The 1970s (Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades)

Rating:
Summary: From Watergate and Vietnam to Disco and "Star Wars"
Review: Despite the triptych of photographs on the cover of this book, the 1970s were much more than disco, the Camp David Accord, and Three Mile Island. Obviously the twin legacies of the Vietnam War and Watergate, embodied in the presidency of Richard Nixon, are ultimately much more important than John Travolta and Jimmy Carter (combined even). A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades presents a theme-based approach to the people, places and events of each decade of the 20th century, using lots of photographs and sidebars to provide considerably more breadth and depth of coverage than you would find in your standard American history textbook.

Gail B. Stewart notes in her brief introduction, that the 1970s have been a decade that has received relatively little reflection or study, although these were the years in which Americans had to cope with the demise in the Sixties of those things we thought we valued the most. The main part of these volume presents seven chapters: (1) A House Divided: Politics in the Seventies covers not only the end of the Vietnam War and Watergate, but also Jimmy Carter and the Iran Hostage Crisis; (2) "I Am Woman; Hear Me Roar" obviously covers the Womens Movement, not only in terms of radical feminism but in the changing society that required women to work in order for families to survive; (3) A Piece of the Pie covers race relations during the decade, focusing as much on plight of Native Americans as well as African Americans; (4) Energy and the Environment looks at the tension between the two extremes represented by the energy crisis and Greenpeace, although the main focus in on environmental disasters; (5) "No Rules" Rule: Fashion and Fads in the Seventies is an entire chapter devoted to things like hot pants, platform shoes, and jogging suits, but also hot rocks and streaking; (6) Music of the Seventies begins with the end of the Beatles and the diversity of David Bowie's Glam Rock, the Mellow Sounds of Carole King and James Taylor, Led Zeppelin and Heavy Metal, and Punk Rock and the Sex Pistols (oh, and Disco); and (7) Television and Film in the Seventies covers everything from "All in the Family" to "Roots" on television and from "The Godfather" to "Star Wars" in the movie theaters. In "A Final Thought," Stewart's epilogue establishes how American began the Reagan Years with little optimism.

Overall, Stewart does a nice job of making this thematic approach work, although I think the book would be better served by condensing condemning the Fashion/Fad chapter and incorporating it in the music chapter and then going back and dividing the first chapter in to Vietnam/Foreign Affairs and Watergate/Domestic Politics. As I am sure I have said before, I assume it is impractical to have a set of these books for each student in a 20th Century American History class (I have seen 20th Century History classes that cover both American and World History), so the chief value of these is as reference sources. Teachers can certainly find additional material on every subject covered in their standard history textbook as well as excellent supplemental information. The sidebars of these books are particularly interesting, dealing with topics including the Pentagon Papers, busing in Boston, and "Saturday Night Live." Also, of course, these books are excellent first places to look for researching a topic from any one of these decades.

Rating:
Summary: From Watergate and Vietnam to Disco and "Star Wars"
Review: Despite the triptych of photographs on the cover of this book, the 1970s were much more than disco, the Camp David Accord, and Three Mile Island. Obviously the twin legacies of the Vietnam War and Watergate, embodied in the presidency of Richard Nixon, are ultimately much more important than John Travolta and Jimmy Carter (combined even). A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades presents a theme-based approach to the people, places and events of each decade of the 20th century, using lots of photographs and sidebars to provide considerably more breadth and depth of coverage than you would find in your standard American history textbook.

Gail B. Stewart notes in her brief introduction, that the 1970s have been a decade that has received relatively little reflection or study, although these were the years in which Americans had to cope with the demise in the Sixties of those things we thought we valued the most. The main part of these volume presents seven chapters: (1) A House Divided: Politics in the Seventies covers not only the end of the Vietnam War and Watergate, but also Jimmy Carter and the Iran Hostage Crisis; (2) "I Am Woman; Hear Me Roar" obviously covers the Womens Movement, not only in terms of radical feminism but in the changing society that required women to work in order for families to survive; (3) A Piece of the Pie covers race relations during the decade, focusing as much on plight of Native Americans as well as African Americans; (4) Energy and the Environment looks at the tension between the two extremes represented by the energy crisis and Greenpeace, although the main focus in on environmental disasters; (5) "No Rules" Rule: Fashion and Fads in the Seventies is an entire chapter devoted to things like hot pants, platform shoes, and jogging suits, but also hot rocks and streaking; (6) Music of the Seventies begins with the end of the Beatles and the diversity of David Bowie's Glam Rock, the Mellow Sounds of Carole King and James Taylor, Led Zeppelin and Heavy Metal, and Punk Rock and the Sex Pistols (oh, and Disco); and (7) Television and Film in the Seventies covers everything from "All in the Family" to "Roots" on television and from "The Godfather" to "Star Wars" in the movie theaters. In "A Final Thought," Stewart's epilogue establishes how American began the Reagan Years with little optimism.

Overall, Stewart does a nice job of making this thematic approach work, although I think the book would be better served by condensing condemning the Fashion/Fad chapter and incorporating it in the music chapter and then going back and dividing the first chapter in to Vietnam/Foreign Affairs and Watergate/Domestic Politics. As I am sure I have said before, I assume it is impractical to have a set of these books for each student in a 20th Century American History class (I have seen 20th Century History classes that cover both American and World History), so the chief value of these is as reference sources. Teachers can certainly find additional material on every subject covered in their standard history textbook as well as excellent supplemental information. The sidebars of these books are particularly interesting, dealing with topics including the Pentagon Papers, busing in Boston, and "Saturday Night Live." Also, of course, these books are excellent first places to look for researching a topic from any one of these decades.

Rating:
Summary: The 70s
Review: This book dedicated to the 70s is very informatitive. It helpedme do a lot of research. Even if you arent working on a project,youmay learn a lot of interesting things from this book.