Joan Didion

An incisive compilation of political essays, originally written for The New York Review of Books from 1988 to 2000, explores the nature of American politics and political figures and the role of the media in transforming the American political landscape. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

Political Fictions

Arden Kowalski

Joan Didion is a talented author and I have enjoyed the other two books of hers that I read, but I found I couldn't get into a lot of the essays in this book. While they are comprehensive and often shed light on events that I hadn't learned of previously, I found that many dragged on beyond necessity. Summarize, summarize, summarize: the key to effective essay writing. My favourite of these might be 'Political Pornography,' and it is incidentally also the shortest. I would recommend just reading that instead of working through the whole collection, although there are definitely a few other gems here. On average, it earns my 3 star rating (perhaps 3.2 stars, but that's just pedantic).

Political Fictions

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