"The shockingly simple realization that lies at the heart of Didion is that what we say often travesties what we mean. Didion is a very good listener, and, at their best, her essays tear apart the assumptions of time and place: the 1960s, the 70s, American foreign policy, American electoral politics, the weakness of fashion and the Christian Right, and of small-town daydreams. . . . Loss has been her subject -- the loss of innocence, of illusions, of a better time -- and her argument is that, in storytelling, we make barriers to keep out the loss." --Daniel Swift