Joan Didion, whose 'electric anxiety' inspired a generation, has died at 87

American novelist, journalist and essayist Joan Didion died on Thursday at her home in New York at age 87 from Parkinson's disease, according to Knopf publicist Paul Bogaards. The bestselling writer began describing her home state, California, for magazines in the 1960s and broadened her subjects over the decades in nonfiction, fiction and films.