The dead and pieces of the dead turn up in El Salvador everywhere, every day, as taken for granted as in a nightmare, or a horror movie. Vultures of course suggests the presence of body. A knot of children on the streets suggests the presence of a body. Bodies turn up in the brush of vacant lots, in the garbage thrown down ravines in the richest districts, in public rest rooms, in bus stations.

Published in 1983, Salvador is Joan Didion’s powerful indictment of a country run wild by its military rulers and by its vigilantes.

“Although she is not an experienced newspaper reporter, it is difficult to deny that everything she writes grows out of close observation of the social and political landscape of El Salvador,” writes Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in his review of the book in The New York Times. “And it is quite impossible to deny the artistic brilliance of her reportage. She brings the country to life so that it ends up invading our flesh. To get rid of it then is as simple as shaking off leeches.”

A softcover (good as new) copy of Salvador published in 1994 by Vintage International is available for sale at Bound Bookshop for only Php490.00. Call Bound Bookshop at 7992004 or email us at boundbookshop@gmail.com to reserve this book now.