{"product_id":"slouching-towards-bethlehem-by-joan-didion","title":"'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' by Joan Didion","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"109\" data-end=\"417\"\u003eThese essays track the late 1960s as already disintegrating while it’s being named. Haight-Ashbury, California mythologies, moral drift...very much relatable even now.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"419\" data-end=\"891\"\u003eThe famous title essay is full of people speaking in fragments, systems dissolving, meaning no longer holds its shape. Elsewhere, pieces like \u003cem data-start=\"740\" data-end=\"775\"\u003eSome Dreamers of the Golden Dream\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem data-start=\"780\" data-end=\"797\"\u003eOn Self-Respect\u003c\/em\u003e show the full range—controlled, precise, but always circling instability beneath the surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"893\" data-end=\"1122\"\u003eWhat makes this book endure is that it never settles into nostalgia. It’s not “the 60s” as myth; it’s the feeling of a culture losing its narrative about itself. You read it now and it doesn’t feel historical—it feels like \"it\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"893\" data-end=\"1122\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eThis is Didion’s breakout. She effectively defines the tone of modern literary journalism. Humble brag. Everything people now flatten into “cool detachment” is actually something much more precise: a refusal to stabilise meaning when the world itself isn’t stable. She did it first. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1159\" data-end=\"1508\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUK first edition, 1969 (Andre Deutsch). Original dust jacket present. Jacket clean with light general handling wear and minor edge rubbing; no major tears. Boards sharp and well-preserved. Binding firm with no lean. Interior clean throughout with no inscriptions. Paper lightly toned as expected. A very solid copy overall, with good shelf presence.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44540306686035,"sku":null,"price":1200.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Yourparagraphtext_28.png?v=1777422902","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/slouching-towards-bethlehem-by-joan-didion","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}