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Slouching towards Bethlehem

Front Cover
632 Reviews
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968 - Literary Collections - 238 pages
Universally acclaimed when it was first published in 1968, Slouching Towards Bethlehem has become a modern classic. More than any other book of its time, this collection captures the mood of 1960s America, especially the center of its counterculture, California. These essays, keynoted by an extraordinary report on San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, all reflect that, in one way or another, things are falling apart, "the center cannot hold." An incisive look at contemporary American life, Slouching Towards Bethlehem has been admired for several decades as a stylistic masterpiece.

Contents:

I. LIFE STYLES IN THE GOLDEN LAND
Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream
John Wayne: A Love Song
Where the Kissing Never Stops
Comrade Laski, C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.)
7000 Romaine, Los Angeles 38
California Dreaming
Marrying Absurd
Slouching Towards Bethlehem

II. PERSONALS
On Keeping a Notebook
On Self-Respect
I Can't Get That Monster out of My Mind
On Morality
On Going Home

III. SEVEN PLACES OF THE MIND
Notes from a Native Daughter
Letter from Paradise, 21° 19' N., 157° 52' W
Rock of Ages
The Seacoast of Despair
Guaymas, Sonora
Los Angeles Notebook
Goodbye to All That

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5 stars
263
4 stars
223
3 stars
85
2 stars
18
1 star
5

Didion is a good writer, with some good insights. - Goodreads
YAAAAWWWWNNNN. Writing was way self-indulgent. - Goodreads
Beautiful, beautiful cold hard prose. - Goodreads
The best nonfiction prose. - Goodreads
She is not a top shelf writer. - Goodreads
Excellent, sparse imagery. - Goodreads

Review: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

User Review  - Tim - Goodreads

This book is okay, some pieces more than that, some less, but I certainly didn't encounter the shimmering revelation it's reputed to be. In a couple places it bordered on approaching its reputation ... Read full review

Review: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

User Review  - Mark - Goodreads

Absolutely amazing writer. Read full review

All 632 reviews »

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About the author (1968)

Joan Didion is the author of five novels and six works of nonfiction: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album, Miami, Salvador, After Henry, and Political Fictions. She lives in New York City.

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