As Joyce Carol Oates remarked: “ 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. The center was not holding, Didion wrote in 1967, opening what is now the iconic essay Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Much of this collection is a reflection on external, cultural phenomena: a murder case in Southern California, the alluring celebrity of John Wayne, the. Here they are specifically connected to introduce a sharp, insightful, severe, and frequently interesting portrait of a woman. Recently published in different magazines, they were written as independent essays somewhere in the range of 19.

More than perhaps any other book, this collection by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era captures the unique time and place of Joan Didion’s focus, exploring subjects such as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up in California and the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture. Joni Mitchell originally released Slouching Towards Bethlehem written by Joni Mitchell and Joni Mitchell released it on the album Night Ride Home in 1991. Slouching Towards Bethlehem is an assortment of essays by observed American author Joan Didion. First edition hardcover, quarter-bound in orange cloth, with tan blind-stamped (flower motif) front cover, and tan back cover, with gilt lettering on spine, is in G condition, having a faint strip of darkening to top covers, some speckling to the top closed page edge, tinted reddish slight scuffing to other closed page edges slight edge tear.

First published in 1968, the collection was critically praised as one of the “best prose written in this country.” Beautifully repackaged as part of the Picador Modern Classics Series, this special edition is small enough to fit in your pocket and bold enough to stand out on your bookshelf.Ĭelebrated, iconic, and indispensable, Joan Didion’s first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, is considered a watershed moment in American writing.

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