Some writers came to define a generation. Some a genre. Joan Didion did both, and much more. Didion rose to prominence with her nonfiction collection, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and she quickly became the writer who defined the washed-out, acid hangover of the 60s. But the bicoastal writer of fiction and nonfiction, whose writing ranged from profoundly personal essays and raw, intimate memoirs was equally a writer focused on international affairs, political intrigue, and social justice. This collection encompasses it all, in conversations that delve into her underappreciated mid-career works, her influences, the loss of her husband and daughter, and her most infamous essays. Far from the evasive image of a terse minimalist that has come to dominate the image of Joan Didion, what this collection reveals is a warm, thoughtful woman whose well-earned legacy promises to live on for readers and writers for many generations to follow.