The book includes an account by journalist William Langewiesche of Vanity Fair about a controversial United States military operation in Iraq, an investigative journalism article for Rolling Stone by Janet Reitman, a piece published in Esquire by C.J.

The book received a positive reception, and a review in Publishers Weekly commented, "All of the essays ... exhibit a timeless prose in the midst of meeting deadlines.

[5] The Best American Magazine Writing 2007 features high-quality pieces from the previous year, including: an account by journalist William Langewiesche of Vanity Fair titled "Rules of Engagement", about the killing of resident citizens in Haditha, Iraq by United States military;[6] an investigative journalism article for Rolling Stone by Janet Reitman, a piece published in Esquire by C.J.

[1] Additional articles featured in the work include: a biographical study of climber Reinhold Messner by journalist Caroline Alexander, titled, "Murdering the Impossible"; an article by Christopher Hitchens on survivors of Agent Orange;[2] "The Loved Ones" by Tom Junod, about criminal activities by nursing homes in New Orleans, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina; "The Other Side of Hate" by Andrew Corsello in GQ, discussing interactions between a black priest and white farmer in Zimbabwe during a time of strife in the country; "Rhymes with Rich" by Sandra Tsing Loh in Atlantic Monthly, about attitudes of wealthy introspective mothers;[8] "Our Oceans are Turning into Plastic .

[10] Wadell lamented that the profile of Karl Lagerfeld by Vanessa Grigoriadis seemed lighter fare compared to the rest of the articles in the book, "Though it is cleverly written, it really does seem to be, well, all style.

"[7] In a review for The Daily Yomiuri, Cristoph Mark praised the writing style, readability, and organization of the book, commenting, "Despite being nearly 500 pages, the collection is an incredibly quick read that leaves you both sad to finish the story you've just ended and yet happy to start anew, a feeling largely aided by the editors' innate ability to pace the order of the articles effectively, lightening the mood or going in for the punch as needed.

[11] Xujun Eberlain, writing for New America Media, wrote positively of William Langewiesche's Vanity Fair article, noting it "has a great description" of an incident involving a U.S. soldier operating in Iraq in a location under power of insurgents.