A synopsis of the facts for each essay would have value, since the topics spanned 1974- 1989 and references are not readily familiar. Perhaps the expectation is that the reader will satisfy curiosity by using online sources. Which I did do...

A good, short, collection, covering about 20 years (only one post 9/11 piece). The older pieces read now as first person history, but always with an edge and extremely well written. A good place to start if you haven't read her before.

A nice collection of Didion's work. I have been given a taste of several books, and I am hungry for more!

Pure genius she saw through it all.

The pieces on Ronald and Nancy Reagan ('In the Realm of the Fisher King'), Bill Clinton ('Clinton Agonistes') and the Central Park jogger case ('Sentimental Journeys') are the brightest parts of this anthology, culled from other works - but there really are no missteps here. The sheer breadth of Didion's research is astounding, especially as she reveals the fuzzy thinking of both presidents and newswriters alike. The final essay, based on a lecture given in 2002, 'Fixed Opinions, or the Hinge of History' is the best review of the American government's skewing of logic to justify the 'war on terror' that I've ever read. Even now, a very worthy read.

This was a bit of a random collection. I suppose Didion couldn't have spent her entire life writing about California, but California Didion is likely my favourite. I'm guessing even the non-California books of essays some of these in this book were pulled from would amount to a 4/5, but as a collection, I can't go higher than 3*. Did not quite vibe with this one.

I'm giving this book 5 stars only because I know that if I don't Didion will track me down and kill me in my sleep.

3.5 stars. a collection of essays with a general focus on politics and american society/culture including thoughts on monica lewinsky, 9/11, and patricia hearst to name a few - all with the larger theme of observing what it means to be an american that benefits from the hegemonic position the country is in. as much as i want to like this one, a lot of it was a bit over my head so i used some extra commentary to understand what was going on - i don’t doubt her greatness and introspection, i just need a bit of help to get there. i really enjoy seeing her thoughts and writing applied to these topics, rather than the memories about her familial relations that i have read before. her writing is more gritty and grotesque in ways that are different from how i’ve seen it before. not to say that i prefer on over the other, i actually like them both equally - it’s just interesting to see how the topics she is writing about changes the prose.

I would listen to Joan talk about anything. This book didn’t disappoint. Her journalistic work is peak Didion, I love it so much. Also she has such a way of taking such a lofty topic and making it so interesting and understandable. Only thing wrong w this book is there wasn’t much of a central theme since it was just a compilation of articles published in other books of hers.

My favorite. I am determined to read everything she’s written.

If you haven't read much from Joan Didion, this is a good place to start. Vintage Didion covers a selection of her more powerful essays over a period of almost 40 years.

You'll notice, as you read, the strong skepticism that Didion brings to her journalistic essays. It's not that she necessarily has a political bend in one direction or another, it is that she is committed to looking around and fully rendering the context of each event she reports on, complete with historic details showing how the past has led to each moment she captures. This necessarily leads to her having some visible levels of contempt for people who would ignore details, gloss over the uglier connections between institutions, or impose a narrative on events.

Not only does Didion commit herself to exploring the "wide view" of an event in order to show the confluence of viewpoints and past actions that influence the choices made during historic moments, she does so with the sense of a Gideon--an almost-too-wise observer who is there not to render judgment herself, but to observe the imposition of an inevitable judgment dictated by the circumstances of our actions. Her knowing contempt for the selfish, magical thinking that both leads to tragedy and prevents our learning from it is simply the fatigue of an observer who has witnessed similar events to these before and who can not believe that the people around her do not remember the confluence of power, privilege, and short-term thinking that bring about the new iterations of tragedy, exploitation, and genocide that she finds herself covering.

Didion's voice should not be the only one you listen to if you're reviewing the political landscape of the last half century, but she is definitely a voice you should be listening to. Her easy way of separating the narrative we agree to impose on events from the events themselves is unbelievably necessary to a balanced understanding of the complex relationship between power and cultural forces, and the ways that both are exploited in order to shape the world to fit the collective desires of a relatively few individuals.

I would recommend moving from here to Political Fictions or Salvador, but not immediately. Your appreciation for (and recognition of the limitations of) Didion's style and voice will be better if you approach her work in context, by taking the "big picture" view for yourself and mixing your approach to her work with a large variety of other essayists and historians of the latter half of the twentieth century. The only way to truly appreciate essays that are this steeped in the culture of their times is by developing a sense of the writer's own view, and to do that you need to immerse yourself in the voices that surrounded her on the pages of the various publications where these articles originally appeared.

The first essay is absolutely mind-blowing...the rest felt kind of dated (reading about the beginning of the drug crime and violence in Miami and Central America seems kind of quaint compared to what the situation is now). Probably not the best introduction to her work since it does have "vintage" in the title, but that's on me.

Such a good writer