"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." These lines and the William Butler Yeats poem from which they come hold a special fascination for Joan Didion which is reflected in her fictional work. Her protagonists...

Ever since she first appeared on the literary scene in the early 1960s, Joan Didion has been identified as a California writer. Although her heart belongs to the provincial Sacramento of her girlhood, her best-known essays and novels are set in the conte...

Joan Didion told an interviewer in 1992 that she "started out thinking things were pretty coherent. Then I was surprised when they weren't. I decided I better tell people." Didion tells stories of disorder in minimalist novels, lyrical reportage, and per...

Yesterday's treasury select committee hearing in parliament showed the potential downside of bringing democracy to the people.Instead of the usual robust interrogation of policymakers, we were treated to a lame succession of questions from the general public which the experienced men – Bank of England...

A Syrian court sentenced four pro-democracy campaigners, including one of Syria's most respected writers, to prison terms Sunday as part of President's Bashar Assad's latest crack down on dissent."We are not criminals, we are patriotic people," said writer Michel Kilo from behind bars after Judge...

When Nigeria's electoral commissioner took to airwaves last weekend, he told voters there would be rare sunny skies for their balloting. Hours later, the rain began to fall.Nigeria, it seems, never fails to disappoint when it comes to democracy.Saturday's presidential vote was a landslide won...

Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang apologized Saturday for a comment that too much democracy could lead to another Cultural Revolution, when gangs of youths were given free rein to persecute suspected government opponents in mainland China.Tsang said he was withdrawing his remarks, which sparked an...