We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Collected Nonfiction; Introduction by John Leonard

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Joan Didion's incomparable and distinctive essays and journalism are admired for their acute, incisive observations and their spare, elegant style. Now the seven books of nonfiction that appeared between 1968 and 2003 have been brought together into one thrilling collection. Slouching Towards Bethlehemcaptures the counterculture of the sixties, its mood and lifestyle, as symbolized by California, Joan Baez, Haight-Ashbury.The White Albumcovers the revolutionary politics and the "contemporary wasteland" of the late sixties and early seventies, in pieces on the Manson family, the Black Panthers, and Hollywood.Salvadoris a riveting look at the social and political landscape of civil war.Miamiexposes the secret role this largely Latin city played in the Cold War, from the Bay of Pigs through Watergate. InAfter HenryDidion reports on the Reagans, Patty Hearst, and the Central Park jogger case. The eight essays inPolitical Fictionson censorship in the media, Gingrich, Clinton, Starr, and "compassionate conservatism," among othersshow us how we got to the political scene of today. And inWhere I Was FromDidion shows that California was never the land of the golden dream.

Joan Didion was born in California and lives in New York City. She is the author of five novels and seven previous books of nonfiction.