--- product_id: 1729966 title: "Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics)" price: "AED 76" currency: AED in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.ae/products/1729966-slouching-towards-bethlehem-essays-fsg-classics store_origin: AE region: United Arab Emirates --- # Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics) **Price:** AED 76 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics) - **How much does it cost?** AED 76 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ae](https://www.desertcart.ae/products/1729966-slouching-towards-bethlehem-essays-fsg-classics) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Joan Didion’s first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem , is considered a masterpiece of American literature and the “foundational text” of her oeuvre ( New York Times ). First published in 1968, the book remains a defining work about the Sixties, about California, about America. More than perhaps any other book, this collection of essays by Didion―one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era―captures her focus on time and place at a unique moment in history. Here, Didion explores people and subjects such as John Wayne, Howard Hughes, growing up in California, the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, and the birth of American counterculture. Didion’s work in Slouching has become a totem for readers “who have lost their sense of place or sense of time or sense of self” ( The Rumpus ). “In her portraits of people,” writes the New York Times , “Didion is not out to expose but to understand.” Hailed as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time ( Time Magazine ) and as a classic of New Journalism, Slouching Towards Bethlehem is Didion at her finest. Review: A Great Series of Non Fiction Essays From The 1960s By A Great Author - This is a diverse series of essays authored by Joan Didion in the 1960s. They are in a range of subjects about various aspects of California Society, personal philosophical viewpoints, and autobiographical sketches. Joan Didion combines interesting insights with an artistic flair consistent with also being a fine novelist. In that this was a series of essays, I generally just listened to one at a time, when I had no other distractions, so that I could fully contemplate them. Therefore it took me, perhaps two weeks to slowly work my way through these fine essays. Generally when I study an author, I prefer to read her works in chronological order. I have already read a previous novel, "Run, River", which I completely loved. I then read a second novel, "Play It As It Lays", published after these essays. I was ambivalent about this second novel. If I had it to do over again, I would have read these essays prior to reading those two novels. There is a semi autobiographical aspect to her first two novels that I now have a fuller appreciation of. As is often the case, I listened to an audiobook as I simultaneously read these essays. The narrator is Diane Keaton and she is excellent. This very much added to my personal reading enjoyment. I have become a fan of Joan Didion. "Run, River" flows slowly. It will not appeal to every modern reader, but I found it very mature quite elegant. Likewise, these essays are very mature and intelligent. They are somewhat dated, but in that context also provide a non fiction, literary "time capsule" that I completely enjoyed. Thank You... Review: Turbulent '60s Essays - This is my third by Didion, after her memoirs The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights . It's a collection of 20 turbulent essays -- mostly social commentary but some personal, and all personally felt -- published in various magazines in the mid-1960s. Much of the commentary remains relevant; even many of the details feel current -- for example, these opening lines of the long title essay, set during Haight-Ashbury's 1967 summer of love: "The center was not holding. It was a country of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements and commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children and abandoned homes and vandals who misspelled even the four-letter words they scrawled. It was a country in which families routinely disappeared, trailing bad checks and repossession papers." I enjoyed most of these essays, where Didion seems like a naturalist in close observation; she infuses more so than reports, and eschews transitions so that I suddenly realized things that hadn't been written. It's been long enough since I read them to recognize a few that still pop up as especially memorable, among them the piece about Haight-Ashbury; one about infidelity and murder outside Los Angeles; another about becoming enamored of John Wayne and forever after dreaming that a man would, as Wayne did in a film, "build her a house 'at the bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow' "; and one about the psychological effects of the Santa Ana and other "foehn" winds that compels me to read more on the phenomenon. I've always been struck that Didion is about the size of a mosquito, and here I was interested to read her take on the matter: "My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does." Yeah, don't let appearances fool you, Didion is brave and passionate and compelling, and it occurs to me that one of the essays, "On Self-respect," details the stitching behind her strength of character. And she's shockingly wise: "I remember one day [...] we both had hangovers [...] and we walked to a Spanish restaurant and drank Bloody Marys and gazpacho until we felt better. I was not then guilt-ridden about spending afternoons that way, because I still had all the afternoons in the world. Are you kidding me? That wasn't written by today's septuagenarian Didion looking back; that's her at age 32. I look forward to reading more, next up probably The White Album . ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #7,425 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #8 in Essays (Books) #16 in Cultural Anthropology (Books) #868 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 5,651 Reviews | ## Images ![Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81CSmMrq++L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Great Series of Non Fiction Essays From The 1960s By A Great Author *by F***Y on January 20, 2019* This is a diverse series of essays authored by Joan Didion in the 1960s. They are in a range of subjects about various aspects of California Society, personal philosophical viewpoints, and autobiographical sketches. Joan Didion combines interesting insights with an artistic flair consistent with also being a fine novelist. In that this was a series of essays, I generally just listened to one at a time, when I had no other distractions, so that I could fully contemplate them. Therefore it took me, perhaps two weeks to slowly work my way through these fine essays. Generally when I study an author, I prefer to read her works in chronological order. I have already read a previous novel, "Run, River", which I completely loved. I then read a second novel, "Play It As It Lays", published after these essays. I was ambivalent about this second novel. If I had it to do over again, I would have read these essays prior to reading those two novels. There is a semi autobiographical aspect to her first two novels that I now have a fuller appreciation of. As is often the case, I listened to an audiobook as I simultaneously read these essays. The narrator is Diane Keaton and she is excellent. This very much added to my personal reading enjoyment. I have become a fan of Joan Didion. "Run, River" flows slowly. It will not appeal to every modern reader, but I found it very mature quite elegant. Likewise, these essays are very mature and intelligent. They are somewhat dated, but in that context also provide a non fiction, literary "time capsule" that I completely enjoyed. Thank You... ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Turbulent '60s Essays *by E***Y on April 27, 2013* This is my third by Didion, after her memoirs The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights . It's a collection of 20 turbulent essays -- mostly social commentary but some personal, and all personally felt -- published in various magazines in the mid-1960s. Much of the commentary remains relevant; even many of the details feel current -- for example, these opening lines of the long title essay, set during Haight-Ashbury's 1967 summer of love: "The center was not holding. It was a country of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements and commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children and abandoned homes and vandals who misspelled even the four-letter words they scrawled. It was a country in which families routinely disappeared, trailing bad checks and repossession papers." I enjoyed most of these essays, where Didion seems like a naturalist in close observation; she infuses more so than reports, and eschews transitions so that I suddenly realized things that hadn't been written. It's been long enough since I read them to recognize a few that still pop up as especially memorable, among them the piece about Haight-Ashbury; one about infidelity and murder outside Los Angeles; another about becoming enamored of John Wayne and forever after dreaming that a man would, as Wayne did in a film, "build her a house 'at the bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow' "; and one about the psychological effects of the Santa Ana and other "foehn" winds that compels me to read more on the phenomenon. I've always been struck that Didion is about the size of a mosquito, and here I was interested to read her take on the matter: "My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does." Yeah, don't let appearances fool you, Didion is brave and passionate and compelling, and it occurs to me that one of the essays, "On Self-respect," details the stitching behind her strength of character. And she's shockingly wise: "I remember one day [...] we both had hangovers [...] and we walked to a Spanish restaurant and drank Bloody Marys and gazpacho until we felt better. I was not then guilt-ridden about spending afternoons that way, because I still had all the afternoons in the world. Are you kidding me? That wasn't written by today's septuagenarian Didion looking back; that's her at age 32. I look forward to reading more, next up probably The White Album . ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Classic landmark book *by J***C on January 2, 2025* Slouching Towards Bethlehem" is a collection of essays by Joan Didion that captures the essence of American culture in the 1960s. Didion's sharp observations and distinctive prose style make this book a landmark of American journalism. Through her essays, she explores a range of topics from the decay of morals in San Francisco to the crafting of self-identity in the golden landscapes of California. Each essay is a meticulously crafted snapshot of a society in flux, observed with the keen, critical eye of a journalist tempered with the narrative flair of a novelist. Didion's work not only provides a historical account of a pivotal era but also offers timeless insights into the complexities of human behavior and the societal forces shaping our lives. Her blend of personal reflection and social commentary has cemented this collection as a classic of modern American literature, resonating with readers who appreciate incisive, introspective narratives. ## Frequently Bought Together - Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics) - White Album (FSG Classics) - The Year of Magical Thinking: National Book Award Winner --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ae/products/1729966-slouching-towards-bethlehem-essays-fsg-classics](https://www.desertcart.ae/products/1729966-slouching-towards-bethlehem-essays-fsg-classics) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Arab Emirates* *Store origin: AE* *Last updated: 2026-07-31*