Saturday Night [Paperback]

From Susan Orlean, the bestselling author ofThe Orchid ThiefandRin Tin Tin, comes a new edition of her first book, a quirky classic of narrative journalism that offers an irresistible portrait of how Saturday night in America is lived—with a new Afterword by the author.

Twenty years ago, before she wroteThe Orchid Thiefor was hailed as “a national treasure” byThe Washington Post, Susan Orlean was a journalist with a question: What makes Saturday night so special? To answer it, she embarked on a remarkable journey across the country and spent the evening with all sorts of people in all sorts of places—hipsters in Los Angeles, car cruisers in small-town Indiana, coeds in Boston, the homeless in New York, a lounge band in Portland, quinceañera revelers in Phoenix, and more—to chronicle the one night of the week when we do the things we want to do rather than the things we need to do. The result is an irresistible portrait of how Saturday night in America is lived that remains.Susan Orleanhas been a staff writer forThe New Yorkersince 1992. She is the author of seven books, includingThe Orchid ThiefandRin Tin Tin. Visit her online at SusanOrlean.com and Twitter.com/SusanOrlean.“I can’t think of a better way to spend Saturday night than staying home and reading this book.” —Entertainment Weekly“Orlean’s high spirits and intelligence give her book the feeling of a good Saturday-night conversation. Her chapters are like beginnings of suspenseful novels.” —USA Today“An unusual and entertaining cultural profile . . . with the drollness of her prose, the sharpness of her ear and eye, and her breadth of curiosity . . . Enlightening.” —Christopher Lehmann-Haupt,The New York Times“Delightful . . . Entertaining and interesting . . . A pleasant reminder of how we are at once united by cl“…