Joan Didion’s first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, is considered a watershed moment in American writing. First published in 1968, the collection was critically praised as one of the “best prose written in this country.” Exploring subjects such as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up in California and the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture.

I. Life styles of 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.