Bruce J. Schulman

That much maligned decade, the 1970s, actually had a bigger impact, and a more enduring legacy than the much romanticized, and consequential, 1960s that preceded it. That is the contention of Boston University professor Bruce J. Schulman in his book, THE SEVENTIES: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics. Despite that mouthful of a title, Schulman’s book, coming in at just over 250 pages, is a short and fast look at the clashing politics, personalities and culture of the decade rather than a deep dive. The author makes his points and moves on, backing up his assertions with facts as he sees them, and extrapolating on the go. It’s a good book for younger readers wanting to get a grasp on the recent past, or for those who want to take a less than sentimental journey and brush up on the history they lived through and have now forgotten. But be warned, Schulman laces his book with a lot of opinion, and often falls into the trap of asserting them as facts.

One of the things that I liked about the book was that Schulman does not just confine himself to the numerical years of the decade, but essentially covers events from 1968 to 1984, taking us from the coming of Richard Nixon to the re-election of Ronald Reagan. In this time, America goes from the counterculture to the entrepreneur; from the hippie to the yuppie; from the dominance of the old Rustbelt to the triumph of the Sunbelt; from activism to self discovery; from integration and equality to ethnic diversity; from community activism to homeowners associations; from Rock ‘n Roll to Punk and Disco to Country Pop; from The Graduate to Star Wars to Rambo; from Jerry Rubin, the antiwar protester, to Jerry Rubin, the stock broker. Along the way, Schulman makes some interesting points: how Nixon used fiscal policy to undermine liberal bureaucracies rather than take them on head as later conservatives would; that Watergate was actually a long term triumph for those who wanted to discredit activist government; the ways the crippling stagflation of the late ‘70s changed forever how Americans saved money, making it possible for the Middle Class to become substantially invested in Wall Street through mutual and money market funds, something that would have been anathema to the Great Depression generation; how said inflation fueled the California tax revolt through Proposition 13 in 1978, a revolt that quickly went nationwide, and helped sweep Reagan into the White House two years later; the way the integrationist ideal to the Civil Rights movement of the ‘60s splintered into the awakening of ethnic (a word very much in use in the ‘70s) identity and pride, not just among Blacks, but Hispanic, Irish, Polish, and Italian Americans, including a White cultural backlash; the way the American South, long scorned as backward and racist, rose to dominate American life. The latter is the main thrust of the book in the way Schulman details how with the end of Jim Crow, the Old Confederacy became an economic powerhouse, as warmer climates, low wages, and state governments hostile to business regulation brought in huge amounts of investment money, supplanting the Yankee Northeast in influence and power. The election of Jimmy Carter gave rise to Redneck Chic, as the South reinvented itself, and went national. But when the IRS sought to revoke tax exemptions from private Christian schools, it provoked an enormous backlash that gave rise to Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority, and the political climate took a turn. The political right, which had little or no traction in American politics since the 1920s, reinvented itself as a populist movement that echoed the cultural and economic grievances of the working middle class, scorning liberals as elitist, permissive, and unpatriotic, lacking the basic values that made America great. Schulman makes an excellent point in how the New Right, powered by the direct mail operation of Richard Viguerie, proved to be very good at building coalitions, and outworking an often clueless and quarreling liberal opposition. He also gives a good quick history of the Feminist Movement, pointing out the good it did in changing antiquated rape and sexual assault laws, making spousal abuse a crime, and pointing out the basic economic inequality most American women faced while making it plain that they were outworked and out hustled when it came to passing the Equal Rights Amendment by Phyllis Schlafly and her anti ERA crowd. Schulman gives a lot of attention to Reagan’s first term in the final section of the book, where a sneering distrust of government and all of its works, and a fervent belief that the private sector, and free markets, had a monopoly on solutions and wisdom, became the governing consensus. It was, he contends, the ultimate end of the upheavals of the previous decade.

You can agree with that or not, this is a very subjective book. Many readers took issue with Schulman’s spirited defense of Disco; I’m not sure I agree with him myself, but it is the kind of contrarian viewpoint that gives one food for thought. I do take issue with his description of country music in the ‘70s as “antiblack” because it was “anticity.” Nixon and Reagan’s actions are often described in unnecessarily pejorative terms, I get it that Schulman is a liberal, it just feels like piling on.

This book came out in 2002, so it does reflect the early part of the second Bush era in which it was written, as many of the cultural and political trends Schulman documents have moved on in very different directions since then. The political divisions of the Me Decade of the ‘70s twisted and turned into the grotesque polarization of the Trump Era. The triumphant conservatism of Ronald Reagan, who spoke of a shining city on a hill, has become a raging mob that attacked the temple of American democracy. But that is subject enough for another book, but for anyone interesting in learning how we got here, Bruce Schulman’s book might give some answers.… (más)

Don’t let the title deceive you. This book spans 1968 to 1985, though to understand the influences and legacy of the 1970s, it’s necessary to look a little before and ahead. You’ll get a little of a lot in this book: disco, redneck culture, southern pride, Nixon, Carter, taxes, Watergate, feminism, punk rock, New Age religion, Taxi Driver, ethic pride, diversity, communes… this book is full of those unique snapshots that defined 70s culture. It defines the ‘Me’ generation, the generation disenchanted with the failures of an attempted ‘Us’ way of life of the 1960s. This book isn’t perfect, though. It is missing some important things such as the importance of drug culture. Other events are tilted and biased or… a little not quite right. But, it’s still a great resource on 70s culture and how the culture of the 60s became what defines the 70s.… (más)

A clear and concise picture of Lyndon B. Johnson’s personality and policies. First, his rise to the head of the Senate, his Vice Presidency, his Presidency, the Great Society, Civil Rights, Voting Rights, and finally his downfall, the war in Vietnam. Schulman discusses not only the technical, historical details, but illuminates the unique personality of Johnson that had him both crude and brutish and sensitive and eager for people to like him. The general consensus is that Johnson would have, perhaps, been the greatest President ever (or perhaps second to FDR) if he had only pulled out of Vietnam. Again, this book takes a step above the rest by including with the biographical data primary source documents. It allows for more than the reading of history, but the personal experience and interpretation of it.… (más)