{"product_id":"miami-9780679781806","title":"Miami","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMiami\u003c\/i\u003e is not just a portrait of a city, but a masterly study of immigration and exile, passion, hypocrisy, and political violence, f\u003cb\u003erom the bestselling, award-winning author of \u003ci\u003e The Year of Magical Thinking \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eLet Me Tell You What I Mean.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt is where Fidel Castro raised money to overthrow Batista and where two generations of Castro's enemies have raised armies to overthrow him, so far without success. It is where the bitter opera of Cuban exile intersects with the cynicism of U.S. foreign policy. It is a city whose skyrocketing murder rate is fueled by the cocaine trade, racial discontent, and an undeclared war on the island ninety miles to the south. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Didion follows Miami's drift into a Third World capital, she also locates its position in the secret history of the Cold War, from the Bay of Pigs to the Reagan doctrine and from the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate break-in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJOAN DIDION was born in Sacramento in 1934 and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1956. After graduation, Didion moved to New York and began working for \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e, which led to her career as a journalist and writer. Didion published her first novel, \u003ci\u003eRun River\u003c\/i\u003e, in 1963. Didion's other novels include \u003ci\u003eA Book of Common Prayer\u003c\/i\u003e (1977), \u003ci\u003eDemocracy\u003c\/i\u003e (1984), and \u003ci\u003eThe Last Thing He Wanted \u003c\/i\u003e(1996). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Didion's first volume of essays, \u003ci\u003eSlouching Towards Bethlehem\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1968, and her second, \u003ci\u003eThe White Album\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1979. Her nonfiction works include \u003ci\u003eSalvador\u003c\/i\u003e (1983), \u003ci\u003eMiami\u003c\/i\u003e (1987), \u003ci\u003eAfter Henry\u003c\/i\u003e (1992), \u003ci\u003ePolitical Fictions \u003c\/i\u003e(2001), \u003ci\u003eWhere I Was From \u003c\/i\u003e(2003), \u003ci\u003eWe Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live\u003c\/i\u003e (2006), \u003ci\u003eBlue Nights\u003c\/i\u003e (2011), \u003ci\u003eSouth and West \u003c\/i\u003e(2017) and \u003ci\u003eLet Me Tell You What I Mean \u003c\/i\u003e(2021). Her memoir \u003ci\u003eThe Year of Magical Thinking\u003c\/i\u003e won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2005. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 2005, Didion was awarded the American Academy of Arts \u0026amp; Letters Gold Medal in Criticism and Belles Letters. In 2007, she was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. A portion of National Book Foundation citation read: \"An incisive observer of American politics and culture for more than forty-five years, Didion's distinctive blend of spare, elegant prose and fierce intelligence has earned her books a place in the canon of American literature as well as the admiration of generations of writers and journalists.\" In 2013, she was awarded a National Medal of Arts and Humanities by President Barack Obama, and the PEN Center USA's Lifetime Achievement Award. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDidion said of her writing: \"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means.\" She died in December 2021.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50614553805074,"sku":"9780679781806","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bb93edce-84fa-4c09-a6e2-058bc44be3bf.jpg?v=1732449399","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/miami-9780679781806","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}