# Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Praised for vivid, well-written portraits of the 1960s California counterculture that look past sanitized accounts. One critic finds her viewpoint contemptuous.

## Why people recommend it

- Counters clichéd retellings of the era (3 comments): "a similarly anecdotal (and substantially better-written) piece about the drug scene in SF's Summer of Love" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47825468)) "The mask-less account was refreshing, the only counter-weight to flower-power I knew about" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46715463)) "Great reading to see beyond the clichéd, sanitized retellings of that era" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46715340))
- Gorgeous, captivating writing (2 comments): "She captures the dark death of the California hippy era in a captivating and beautiful way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46713571)) "it's excellent: gorgeous writing, and definitely a touchstone of the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46711479))
- Memorable passages and a touchstone (2 comments): "it's excellent: gorgeous writing, and definitely a touchstone of the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46711479)) "Among many memorable passages, I think I find this the most memorable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46713785))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Why I Write by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/why-i-write.md): 6 recommend
- [Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke](https://hackerapproved.com/p/letters-to-a-young-poet.md): 5 recommend
- [Paul Graham essays](https://hackerapproved.com/p/paul-graham-essays.md): 5 recommend
- [Metamagical Themas by Douglas Hofstadter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/metamagical-themas.md): 4 recommend
- [On Photography by Susan Sontag](https://hackerapproved.com/p/on-photography.md): 4 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374266360?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780374266363) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion", https://hackerapproved.com/p/slouching-towards-bethlehem/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).