Review by Choice Review
The 15 years from 1969 to 1984 are identified as the "decade" in which critical transformations became dominant features of contemporary American life. Schulman (Boston Univ.) writes in his plausibly revisionist account that the US "experienced a remarkable make over" in these "malaise- and mayhem-filled years." His lively, well-annotated prose highlights as signifiers cultural phenomena from the massively stereotyped impromptu folk-rock-protest event of Woodstock to the 1980 release of End of the Century by the punk rock band Ramones. In this colorful and apt setting, the book chronicles the rise to economic and political ascendancy of the South and Southwest and a "thoroughgoing southernization of American life"; a demonstrable growth in fervor for conservatism, the market, commercial and financial entrepreneurialism, and evangelical religious experience; and a "new informality" among people of every class, ideology, and region. Whether these features, including the mantra "government is the problem," remain dominant for more than a generation may be open to question. Nevertheless, Schulman's readable, indeed durable and enjoyable, analysis has, for at least one reader, nicely fulfilled its purpose. The final test will be administered by scholars, journalists, and writers of textbooks. All levels and collections. R. N. Seidel emeritus, SUNY Empire State College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Southerner Augustus Cochran's Democracy Heading South [BKL Ap 1 01] suggests that the political institutions of the "Solid South" have been nationalized. In The Seventies, Boston University American studies professor Schulman broadens this analysis, arguing that the nation's center of gravity shifted during the "long 70s" (1969^-1984), profoundly affecting politics, religion, culture, and popular attitudes. Nixon's "Southern strategy" had an impact, as did the angry "backlash" against the changes the movements of the 1960s produced. Other factors included activists who cut their teeth in the 1964 Goldwater campaign, and national and international events that seemed to validate Americans' mistrust of government and "unusual faith in the market." To be sure, the transformation Schulman traces was not a return to the 1950s: "A new ethic of personal liberation trumped older notions of decency, civility, and restraint," and even the Moral Majority "adopted a defiant, in-your-face style." Withdrawal of trust from government and substitution of faith in entrepreneurship may be the most important change Schulman traces. Expect interest, since we're still living with the fruits of the 1970s. --Mary Carroll
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
During the era that Jonathan Livingston Seagull was soaring high on self-help platitudes, the Village People were bringing a campy sensibility to the discos, and "Ms." was replacing older forms of female address, the United States, according to Schulman, was undergoing some of the most drastic and profound changes in its history. A professor of history and director of American Studies at Boston University, Schulman has fashioned a sprightly, neatly detailed and enlightening history of a period that many historians have written off as an uneventful time. While Saturday Night Live embodied the "contempt for authority" that was prevalent during the period, it was, he says, also part of a culture that "reinvented America" in ways that were deeply progressive and political. From social movements like feminism, gay liberation and the "gray panthers," to the emergence of Jimmy Carter and the politics of the sunbelt, to the startling notion of "diversity" "the prospect of unlike, unassimilable groups as a good to be valued" the 1970s altered basic concepts about the individual, race, economics, politics and society. This book's power comes from its ability to capture both the myriad contradictions as well as the cultural and political syncopations of the time. Schulman's breadth of examples from popular and political culture and his ability to use them to illuminate one another make for astute analysis as well as colorful social history. Far more historically accurate, nuanced and judicious than David Frum's How We Got Here: The 70's (2000), this is an important contribution to modern American social history and the literature of popular culture. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Last year, conservative polemicist David Frum asserted in How We Got Here (LJ 2/15/00) that it was the Seventies rather than the Sixties that defined the final quarter of the American century. Historian Schulman (Boston Univ.; From Cotton Belt to Sun Belt) starts and ends with the same premise but keeps his ideological perspectives under wraps in this consistently incisive and interpretative account of America from Nixon's second term through Reagan's first. Schulman masterfully summarizes the essential policy approaches of each administration during an era of isolationist sentiment, mistrust of government, hedonism, and disillusionment with New Deal liberalism. Comfortable with politics, economics, and a wide range of social phenomena, Schulman is equally penetrating when describing the transformation of the marginal Goldwater New Right into the Reagan majority and reevaluating the culture of disco and significance of Rambo. Indeed, this book only disappoints in its rare omissions; for instance, Schulman never mentions the Iranian hostages and fails to get across the psychological intensity of the energy crisis. Until he gets around to an expanded edition, this is the best first word on the subject, required for academic libraries and worthwhile for most public collections. Scott H. Silverman, Bryn Mawr Coll. Lib., PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Forget the bad music, embarrassing clothes, and sleazy sexuality: Schulman (History/Boston Univ.) is here to set the record straight on the disco decade. After a preface that features an odd encomium of his own work (It offers a rich, evocative portrait of the United States in the 1970s), the author settles in to explore his thesisi.e., The Seventies transformed American economic and cultural life as much as, if not more than, the revolutions in manners and morals of the 1920s and the 1960s. He begins with 1968, a year that witnessed assassinations, political unrest, and a surprising surge of support for George Wallace. He offers a devastating assessment of the Nixon presidency, but credits Nixon with the insight to recognize and exploit the shifts of political power taking place in the US (from the old North and Northeast to the new South and West). Schulman also assesses the demographic and intellectual forces that fractured the old melting pot consensus and created the now-pervasive notion that diversity is the highest social good. He also chronicles the emergence of the Christian right (This parallel universe proved surprisingly vast) and the rise of the New South. Schulman writes compassionately about Jimmy Carterbut recognizes his utter inability to lead the country. And, while he admits Reagans unquestioned contributions to the American resurgence, Schulman recognizes that The Reagan recovery did little for working people. Throughout the 1970s, Schulman maintains, there was a southernization of American life and a decline in social and political activism. The author devotes considerable attention to the popular culture (especially films, TV shows, and music) of the period, but he largely ignores serious literature and the other artsand he is given to seeing much in little, as when he attributes great cultural importance to Evel Knievels farewell tour and to Billie Jean Kings whupping of the feckless Bobby Riggs. A strongly argued defense of polyester.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
