Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Publisher Marketing:2013 Audie Award Nominee, Short Stories/Collections Universally acclaimed from the time it was first published in 1968, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" has been admired for decades as a stylistic masterpiece. Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton ("Annie Hall," "The Family Stone") performs these classic essays, including the title piece, which will transport the listener back to a unique time and place: the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco during the neighborhood s heyday as a countercultural center. This is Joan Didion s first work of nonfiction, offering an incisive look at the mood of 1960s America and providing an essential portrait of the Californian counterculture. She explores the influences of John Wayne and Howard Hughes, and offers ruminations on the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room. Taking its title from W. B. Yeats poem "The Second Coming," the essays in "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" all reflect, in one way or another, that "the center cannot hold." "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" is part of Audible s A-List Collection, featuring the world s most celebrated actors narrating distinguished works of literature that each star had a hand in selecting. " Review Citations: Entertainment Weekly 11/28/2014 pg. 66 (EAN 9780374531386, Paperback) Contributor Bio:  Didion, Joan Joan Didion's many books include The Year of Magical Thinking, for which she received the National Book Award. She lives in New York City. Contributor Bio:  Keaton, Diane Diane Keaton has been recognized for her work in California architectural preservation. She is widely known for her work in theater and film, and has won numerous awards and accolades, including an Oscar for her role in "Annie Hall" and praise for her work as director of "Unstrung Heroes," D. J. Waldie is the author of "Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir," which received the California Book Award for nonfiction in 1996, Where We Are Now: Notes from Los Angeles, and co-author of "Real City: Downtown Los Angles Inside/Out," He is a regular contributor to "Los Angeles Magazine," "The Los Angeles Times," "L. A. Weekly," and others.