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nialexieva's review against another edition
Didion does journalism like no other. What is so incredible about the way she writes is that there is not a single point in which she gives an opinionated sentence, yet this whole piece is the most carefully constructed and brutal critique on the american government and it’s handling of foreign affairs. I have to admit i had absolutely no knowledge of cuban exiles in Miami so some of the events referenced and related to that i did not know about, but nevertheless it was a joyous experience.
jillifish592's review against another edition
5.0
Joan Didion expertly weaves a masterful picture of Miami in all of it's facets. If you haven't already done so, immediately go read everything she has ever written.
leucocrystal's review against another edition
4.0
"What was also less clear then, particularly in Washington, most abstract of cities, entirely absorbed by the messages it was sending itself, narcotized by its own action, rapt in the contemplation of its own markers and its own moves, was just how much residue was already on the board."
This was fascinating. And considering that neither the politics of Miami nor South America, let alone those of D.C., have ever been an area I've been particularly drawn to studying in detail, that's saying something.
This was fascinating. And considering that neither the politics of Miami nor South America, let alone those of D.C., have ever been an area I've been particularly drawn to studying in detail, that's saying something.
carlabarros's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
bernrr's review against another edition
3.0
Didion is marvelous with using detail to tell a story. "Miami" is not exactly what I expected. Rather than a cultural study of Miami of the 80s similar to what she did for California with "The White Album," this well-researched book drills into the Cuban communities of Miami, and tells some of the intersected stories of private sector foreign policy in Central America and the Caribbean during the Reagan years.
darwin8u's review against another edition
4.0
"Havana vanities come to dust in Miami."
- Joan Didion, Miami
"The shadowy missions, the secret fundings, the conspiracies beneath conspiracies, the deniable support by parts of the U.S. government and active discouragement by other parts--all these things have fostered a tensely paranoid style in parts of our own political life, Didion suggests.
Miami is us, and the tangled tales we heard recently of private armies and retired generals fighting their own lucrative wars provide something of a retrospective support for a thesis developed long before the Iran-gate hearings."
- LA Times Review by Richard Eder
The brilliance of this book is Didion's ability to capture the swampyness of the politics of Miami and South Florida, or what Christopher Lehmann-Haupt described as Miami's "murky underwater darkness full of sharks and evil shadows," and use that as a lense into the US policies in Cuba (during the Kennedy years) and Central America (during the Reagan years). The swampy feel, however, was both a plus (atmosphere) and a negative (narrative-flow). This book reminds me of the feeling I got when reading Delillo's [b:Libra|400|Libra|Don DeLillo|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327935630s/400.jpg|1011400] or Mailer's [b:Oswald's Tale|96119|Oswald's Tale An American Mystery|Norman Mailer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320509801s/96119.jpg|838966]
This book is a dark, wet narrative of paranoia, government conspiracies, and a nation and city that has lost control of its dark arts. It is still relevant and the paranoia is still rich. I was reading this book and the character of Jack Wheeler sounded interesting. I remember he had been a figure in Rick Atkinson's [book:The Long Gray Line. He advised President Reagan and Both President Bushes on Central America. So, I decided to look him up since, like Zelig, he also played an interesting part in Didion's book. 23 years after Didion's 'Miami' was published and 4 years before I read it, Jack Wheeler was killed while conducting a review of the legal authority to engage in nation-state offensive cyberwarfare. His body was seen by a landfill worker "falling onto a trash heap in the Cherry Island Landfill". Sounds like it could have happened in Miami.
- Joan Didion, Miami
"The shadowy missions, the secret fundings, the conspiracies beneath conspiracies, the deniable support by parts of the U.S. government and active discouragement by other parts--all these things have fostered a tensely paranoid style in parts of our own political life, Didion suggests.
Miami is us, and the tangled tales we heard recently of private armies and retired generals fighting their own lucrative wars provide something of a retrospective support for a thesis developed long before the Iran-gate hearings."
- LA Times Review by Richard Eder
The brilliance of this book is Didion's ability to capture the swampyness of the politics of Miami and South Florida, or what Christopher Lehmann-Haupt described as Miami's "murky underwater darkness full of sharks and evil shadows," and use that as a lense into the US policies in Cuba (during the Kennedy years) and Central America (during the Reagan years). The swampy feel, however, was both a plus (atmosphere) and a negative (narrative-flow). This book reminds me of the feeling I got when reading Delillo's [b:Libra|400|Libra|Don DeLillo|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327935630s/400.jpg|1011400] or Mailer's [b:Oswald's Tale|96119|Oswald's Tale An American Mystery|Norman Mailer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320509801s/96119.jpg|838966]
This book is a dark, wet narrative of paranoia, government conspiracies, and a nation and city that has lost control of its dark arts. It is still relevant and the paranoia is still rich. I was reading this book and the character of Jack Wheeler sounded interesting. I remember he had been a figure in Rick Atkinson's [book:The Long Gray Line. He advised President Reagan and Both President Bushes on Central America. So, I decided to look him up since, like Zelig, he also played an interesting part in Didion's book. 23 years after Didion's 'Miami' was published and 4 years before I read it, Jack Wheeler was killed while conducting a review of the legal authority to engage in nation-state offensive cyberwarfare. His body was seen by a landfill worker "falling onto a trash heap in the Cherry Island Landfill". Sounds like it could have happened in Miami.
clambook's review against another edition
3.0
Re-read it after a visit to Cuba. Love to hear her report on the Miami of 2015.
jaodriscoll's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the story this book spun of the Miami that existed after the Cuban revolution and the (at the time) present intersection of 80s era Reagan Administration and the cuban exiles. An interesting picture is painted of the Cuban exile community, but I think the author loses the narrative thread somewhere in the 80s (probably because her info was incomplete). Still, I did like this book for the context on why Cuban Miami was (and still is) so Republican-aligned.
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