{"product_id":"south-and-west-from-a-notebook-paperback","title":"South and West: From a Notebook - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJoan Didion\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eNathaniel Rich\u003c\/b\u003e (Foreword by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER \u003c\/b\u003e- \"One of contemporary literature's most revered essayists revives her raw records from a 1970s road trip across the American southwest ... her acute observations of the country's culture and history feel particularly resonant today.\" --\u003ci\u003eHarper's Bazaar \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoan Didion, the bestselling, award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Year of Magical Thinking\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLet Me Tell You What I Mean, \u003c\/i\u003e has always kept notebooks--of overheard dialogue, interviews, drafts of essays, copies of articles. Here are two extended excerpts from notebooks she kept in the 1970s; read together, they form a piercing view of the American political and cultural landscape. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Notes on the South\" traces a road trip that she and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, took through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Her acute observations about the small towns they pass through, her interviews with local figures, and their preoccupation with race, class, and heritage suggest a South largely unchanged today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"California Notes\" began as an assignment from \u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e on the Patty Hearst trial. Though Didion never wrote the piece, the time she spent watching the trial in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the West and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Here we not only see Didion's signature irony and imagination in play, we're also granted an illuminating glimpse into her mind and process.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJOAN DIDION was born in Sacramento in 1934 and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1956. After graduation, Didion moved to New York and began working for \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e, which led to her career as a journalist and writer. Didion published her first novel, \u003ci\u003eRun River\u003c\/i\u003e, in 1963. Didion's other novels include \u003ci\u003eA Book of Common Prayer\u003c\/i\u003e (1977), \u003ci\u003eDemocracy\u003c\/i\u003e (1984), and \u003ci\u003eThe Last Thing He Wanted \u003c\/i\u003e(1996). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Didion's first volume of essays, \u003ci\u003eSlouching Towards Bethlehem\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1968, and her second, \u003ci\u003eThe White Album\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1979. Her nonfiction works include \u003ci\u003eSalvador\u003c\/i\u003e (1983), \u003ci\u003eMiami\u003c\/i\u003e (1987), \u003ci\u003eAfter Henry\u003c\/i\u003e (1992), \u003ci\u003ePolitical Fictions \u003c\/i\u003e(2001), \u003ci\u003eWhere I Was From \u003c\/i\u003e(2003), \u003ci\u003eWe Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live\u003c\/i\u003e (2006), \u003ci\u003eBlue Nights\u003c\/i\u003e (2011), \u003ci\u003eSouth and West \u003c\/i\u003e(2017) and \u003ci\u003eLet Me Tell You What I Mean \u003c\/i\u003e(2021). Her memoir \u003ci\u003eThe Year of Magical Thinking\u003c\/i\u003e won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2005. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 2005, Didion was awarded the American Academy of Arts \u0026amp; Letters Gold Medal in Criticism and Belles Letters. In 2007, she was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. A portion of National Book Foundation citation read: \"An incisive observer of American politics and culture for more than forty-five years, Didion's distinctive blend of spare, elegant prose and fierce intelligence has earned her books a place in the canon of American literature as well as the admiration of generations of writers and journalists.\" In 2013, she was awarded a National Medal of Arts and Humanities by President Barack Obama, and the PEN Center USA's Lifetime Achievement Award. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDidion said of her writing: \"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means.\" She died in December 2021.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 160\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 7.9 x 5.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 02, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51984063660333,"sku":"9780525434191","price":17.79,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/akVTLzFKWkZVS0VUSk9IN1ErRk5RUT09.webp?v=1776081700","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/south-and-west-from-a-notebook-paperback","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}