[In the following highly positive review, Seaman recounts the process by which Survival Stories, edited by Kathryn Rhett, came to be, concluding that the essays in the collection "transcend all criticism."]

Rhett noticed that the most arresting essays written for the memoir-writing workshops she taught were about surviving crises. This observation inspired her to create a crises memoir course, in spite of her fears that such an intense focus could turn her classes into group therapy sessions. A real pro, Rhett was able to concentrate on the writing itself, thus helping her students develop the formal structures needed for telling their highly personal stories. Rhett scouted out stellar examples of the form and now has gathered together in a powerful anthology 20 indelible tales of death, illness, divorce, betrayal, depression, and unemployment by writers such as Rick Moody, Lucy Grealy, Nancy Mairs, and Christina Middlebrook. Each essay reflects points Rhett makes in her insightful introduction about how stories of survival illuminate "the connection between an old self and a new one" and about how the articulation of private traumas is a "step toward collective feelings." The memoir is as maligned as it is treasured, but these essays transcend all criticism.