[.ca] The Seventies: The Great Shift In American Culture, ... (ISBN 030681126X)

The decade of disillusionment, disco, and disassimilation:
I have a preoccupation with the 1970's, as I should've lived in America and become more Americanized during that formative period of my youth. Well, guess what? I did a little, but not enough of the 1970's culture was filtered into my household. As a result, I felt alienated from America, and still haven't come to terms with it. So when I discovered Bruce Shulman's book, The Seventies-The Great Shift In American Culture, Society, and Politics, I saw an analytical treasure trove. Basically, the beginnings of contemporary America began not in the 60's, but the 70's, and Schulman effectively makes his case here. With the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, the optimism that had lighted the country burned out into the disillusionment of the 1970's. The melting pot was transformed into a salad bowl in the 70's, as various ethnic groups went on the cultural nationalism bandwagon, be they African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans, whatever-Americans. I remember those commercials on a certain group, with someone concluding, "I'm proud to be a Chinese/Italian/Japanese-American." The various fads and movements are also touched on here, such as Werner Erhard's EST, radical feminism, New Age, the New Right Christians, the environmentalist movement, Gray Panthers, to list a few. Strangely enough, the SLA, People's Temple and the Moonies aren't mentioned. But the people thought there must be another answer. After losing Vietnam, we had entered, in the words of Jimmy Carter, "a crisis of confidence," even before he came to office. The feeling that authority figures were not trustworthy hit a high point with Watergate, and an early chapter focuses on Richard Nixon and his policies. This theme carried on later in Jimmy Carter's "crisis of confidence" speech. And while I'm at it--Jimmy Carter's given a sympathetic treatment by Schulman. His humble facade, attempts to de-imperialize the presidency, and Congress's tearing apart his energy policy are covered. Basically, he had good intentions, but came face-to-face with a Congress still steaming after Watergate. And what book would not be complete without entertainment? There was the narcissistic indulgence of glam artists KISS and David Bowie (both in my top artists lists, BTW), the continuing importance of Bob Dylan with Blood On The Tracks, and punk rock as typified by the Sex Pistols, Clash, and Ramones. The Clash's anarchic message demonstrated the anger against the establishment, and even called for people to "Kick down the wall/cause governments to fall" in the song "Clampdown." Even Saturday Night Fever, with its escapist theme living side by side with the economic souring of that time, is covered. There's a certain flavour in 70's movies, be it the hairstyles, clothes, cars, the vermilion dye that substituted for blood, and film quality that reaches out to me. The feeling of anger, disaffectedness, and distrust in authority from that bygone decade harkens to me. The Hegelian synthesis of Alan Alda's sensitive male and John Wayne's red-blooded macho male was an interesting read. This is discussed in the Battle of the Sexes, which includes Billie Jean King teaching Bobby Riggs a well-deserved lesson. The book concludes with the beginning of the Reagan Years, of how conservatism took over, and how counter-culture icons like Jane Fonda and Jerry Rubin sold out to crass capitalist values of the "My Decade." An additional postscript was how Grenada, Libya, and later Panama gradually brought America out of the Vietnam Syndrome. Schulman has done a wonderful job bringing the dynamics of the 1970's together in one volume.

The Seventies Schulman Style:
First of all, Schulman's concept of the 1970's as a unique historical period actually covers the period 1968-84 and makes some big omissions within that time frame. The dust cover compares the book to Halberstam's classic, The Fifties, Halberstam's book is twice as long and overall more insightful and entertaining. Politically, Schulman virtually ignores the Ford years, and much of our foreign policy, including events that had a deep impact on the American psyche such as the fall of Saigon, Cambodian genocide,the hostage crisis, terrorism, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, etc. The book is very interesting in its analysis of Nixon's long range covert strategy to undermine liberalism and his animosity towards the Republican Eastern establishment and its old money backers. In another very interesting chapter, Schulman gives us his take on the tax revolt which actually began in the early seventies as a leftist movement. He has some great facts on Reagan who, for example, raised sales and income taxes more than 50% during his years as governor of California. Schulman's analysis of feminism is relatively superficial and uninsightful and his take on culture is spotty at best, we are told a lot about a few of his favorite musicians while other important musicians and movements are ignored, a bit about movies and TV, and virtually nothing about art, dance, and literature. Overall, about a third of the book is great and the rest is just OK.

Not a "History" book:
This book is interesting, and it is readable, but it is hardly a "history" book. The authors biases against various people and cultures (particularly conservatives and the South) are apparent throughout, and I think it loses it's credibility because of that. The publisher should have categorized it as a work of social science.

Failed attempt at sensationalist history:
The Seventies lays out a timeline based solely on what the author wants to prove, with very little interruption by anything that might not have caught his fancy (for good or ill) about the decade. I guess you shouldn't expect too much from a 260 page book that purports to cover an entire decade, but much of the research and analysis are very sloppy. The author frequently uses quotes from other sources out of context (the song "Sweet Home Alabama" is presented as a pro-Wallace song and a William Faulkner quote from his 1956 essay On Fear is presented as if it were uttered in specific reference to the 70's). If you have unsophisticated ideas about politics, cuture and human nature and see the world in black & white, this is the book for you. If you want a nuanced and clear presentation of the history of the 70's, get in line.

Debunking the mythology of the seventies:
This book review wil be short as people generally read the stars only. In brief, this is a thoughtful book which lays bare the political and cultural developments that characterize the 1970s in american society and help us to understand how contemporary political and cultural trends evolved from this complex and exciting period. If you are too young to remember much from that period, this is a great primer. If you are of a certain age, this will provide both food for thought and a trip down memory lane. Well written, and not too long, it makes a great book for a trip. I recommend this book highly.