{"product_id":"slouching-towards-bethlehem-essays-paperback","title":"Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoan Didion's first work of nonfiction, \u003ci\u003eSlouching Towards Bethlehem\u003c\/i\u003e, is considered a masterpiece of American literature and the \"foundational text\" of her oeuvre (\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e). First published in 1968, the book remains a defining work about the Sixties, about California, about America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e More than perhaps any other book, this collection of essays by Didion--one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era--captures her focus on time and place at a unique moment in history. Here, Didion explores people and subjects such as John Wayne, Howard Hughes, growing up in California, the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, and the birth of American counterculture. Didion's work in \u003ci\u003eSlouching\u003c\/i\u003e has become a totem for readers \"who have lost their sense of place or sense of time or sense of self\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/i\u003e). \"In her portraits of people,\" writes the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \"Didion is not out to expose but to understand.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hailed as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time (\u003ci\u003eTime Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e) and as a classic of New Journalism, \u003ci\u003eSlouching Towards Bethlehem\u003c\/i\u003e is Didion at her finest.\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eUpon its publication in 1968, Slouching Towards Bethlehem confirmed Joan Didion as one of the most prominent writers on the literary scene. Her unblinking vision and deadpan tone have influenced subsequent generations of reporters and essayists, changing our expectations of style, voice, and the artistic possibilities of nonfiction. \u003cbr\u003e\"In her portraits of people,\" \"The New York Times Book Review wrote, \"Didion is not out to expose but to understand, and she shows us actors and millionaires, doomed brides and naive acid-trippers, left-wing ideologues and snobs of the Hawaiian aristocracy in a way that makes them neither villainous nor glamorous, but alive and botched and often mournfully beautiful. . . . A rare display of some of the best prose written today in this country.\" \u003cbr\u003eIn essay after essay, Didion captures the dislocation of the 1960s, the disorientation of a country shredding itself apart with social change. Her essays not only describe the subject at hand--the murderous housewife, the little girl trailing the rock group, the millionaire bunkered in his mansion--but also offer a broader vision of America, one that is both terrifying and tender, ominous and uniquely her own. \u003cbr\u003eJoyce Carol Oates has written, \"Joan Didion is one of the very few writers of our time who approaches her terrible subject with absolute seriousness, with fear and humility and awe. Her powerful irony is often sorrowful rather than clever. . . . She has been an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time, a memorable voice, partly eulogistic, partly despairing; always in control.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376643801311,"sku":"9780374531386","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/xtqDEcY1ZK9780374531386.webp?v=1789218241","url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/products\/slouching-towards-bethlehem-essays-paperback","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}