Her essay on California's water system is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing about public works I have ever encountered.<p><a href="http://archive.pov.org/thirst/holy-water/" rel="nofollow">http://archive.pov.org/thirst/holy-water/</a>
A rarely mentioned part of her work is the small book Salvador. She wrote a fair amount on the horrors in Central America during the 1980s, many of which were backed by the US government.<p>It’s a difficult, harrowing read. But as a student educated in the United States well after these events happened, I never knew this part of our history and the long-lasting repercussions.
NYRB, where she wrote for decades, has put her essays in front of the paywall.<p><a href="https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/joan-didion/" rel="nofollow">https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/joan-didion/</a><p>(Their home page has a dozen specific recommendations.)
The documentary about her, by her nephew, is still on Netflix. I just watched it. It's excellent. Initially I was a bit sceptical, because I only knew her A+ screenwriting and her lifestyle reporting, but she was a great one.
And of course, <i>At the Dam</i>, one of my all time favorite pieces of non-fiction<p><a href="http://deathray.us/no_crawl/others/atthedam.html" rel="nofollow">http://deathray.us/no_crawl/others/atthedam.html</a>