In her latest forays into the American scene, Joan Didion covers ground from Washington to Los Angeles, from a TV producers gargantuan ``manor`` to the racial battlefields of New Yorks criminal courts. At each stop she uncovers the mythic narratives that elude other observers: Didion tells us about the fantasies the media construct around crime victims and presidential candidates; she gives us new interpretations of the stories of Nancy Reagan and Patty Hearst; she charts Americas rollercoaster ride through evanescent booms and hard times that wont go away. A bracing amalgam of skepticism and sympathy, After Henry is further proof of Joan Didions infallible radar for the true spirit of our age.