Joan Didion is a master practitioner of short form nonfiction, Hemingway-esque observational pieces that are carefully articulated, while feeling quickly sketched. She is primarily identified as a writer of the sixties and seventies, and some of her subjects may feel dated. The collected essays in this book stretch from the sixties all the way to 1998 and 2000, however. More recently, Didion is known for The Year of Magical Thinking, a book in which she closely observes her responses to the year following the unexpected death of her husband and sometime-writing partner John Gregory Dunne. Tragically, within two years ,her 39-year old daughter Quintana died, which led to Didion’s book Blue Nights. I recommend both, as deeply touching reflections on the experience of grief.

New Journalism, a genre that grew out of the sixties, uses narrative storytelling, and personal immersion of the journalist into the scene being described, to emerge with reportage that attempts to come closer to the truth, a type of creative nonfiction. This book contains some pieces that demonstrate this approach, such as “Getting Serenity”, where Didion describes the experience of a Gamblers Anonymous meeting and subculture; or “Fathers, Sons, and Screaming Eagles”, where a reunion of 101st Airborne Division veterans who participated in World War II infamous battles of Normandy, Bastogne, and the Battle of the Bulge, gather in Las Vegas, and describe to Didion their perceptions of the (at that time, 1968) experiences of their sons in Viet Nam. Some of her pieces are remarkably prescient, possibly chosen for this compilation for that reason. For example, “Everywoman.com” discusses the phenomenon that is Martha Stewart, and how a woman used her own name and domestic skills to build a successful merchandise and media empire based on self-identification (one could point out a recent series of failures by Donald Trump to do something similar.) Her essay “Last Words”, while a reflection on the work and life of Ernest Hemingway (who died of suicide in 1961), is also an interesting series of observations on whether an author has a right to restrict publications of his/her materials after death, such as unfinished manuscripts and letters. While some argue that such materials have great usefulness to scholars, as well as admirers of the author, Didion opines that materials unpublished may be intentional, and should remain as such. “On Being Unchosen by the College of One’s Choice”, while published in 1968, has great relevance to today, From her essay,

““I hear parents talking of their children’s “chances.” What makes me uneasy is the sense that they are merging their children’s chances with their own, demanding of a child that he make good not only for himself but for the greater glory of his father and mother... I wonder if we had better not find...some way to extricate our expectations from theirs, some way to let them work through their own rejections... Finding one’s role at seventeen is problem enough, without being handed somebody else’s script.”

Didion’s time capsule has mostly been selected for its relevance for us today. The pieces hold up well, and also serve to reflect a time so different, and yet so similar to us now. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I hope you enjoy her writing, her subtle tone and well crafted word choice. It is a pleasure for the thoughtful reader. Highly recommend.