Brilliant piece of journalism by Joan Didion Queen always delivers with razor-sharp, economical writing where every word lands.

In this piece, she recounts two harrowing weeks she and her husband John Dunne spent in El Salvador, capturing the culture of terror, the eeriness, and the constant sense of dread. The piece is filled with graphic, horrific imagery, including stories of body dumps, casual violence, and a country teetering on collapse. Didion admits several times how her own fear often kept her from probing too deeply. 

Ultimately, she delivers a sharp critique of U.S. foreign policy, exposing the arrogance of officials obsessed with appearances while chaos reigned around them.