Joan Didion attends The American Theatre Wing's 2012 Annual Gala at The Plaza Hotel on September 24, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images) NEW YORK - Joan Didion, the revered author and essayist whose precise social and personal commentary in such classics as "The White Album" and "The Year of Magical Thinking" made her a uniquely clear-eyed critic of turbulent times, has died.
She was 87.Didion's publisher Penguin Random House announced the author's death on Thursday. She died from complications from Parkinson's disease, the company said."Didion was one of the country’s most trenchant writers and astute observers.