American Culture in the 1970s

- Focused case studies featuring key texts and influential writers, artists, directors and musicians- Chronology of 1970s American Culture- Bibliographies for each chapter and a general bibliography on 1970s Culture- 14 black-and-white illustrations The 1970s was one of the most culturally vibrant periods in American history. This book discusses the dominant cultural forms of the 1970s - fiction and poetry; television and drama; film and visual culture; popular music and style; public space and spectacle - and the decade's most influential practitioners and texts: from Toni Morrison to All in the Family, from Diane Arbus to Bruce Springsteen, from M.A.S.H. to Taxi Driver and from disco divas to Vietnam protesters. In response to those who consider the seventies the time of disco, polyester and narcissism, this book rewrites the critical engagement with one of America's most misunderstood decades.

Will Kaufman is Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire and a founder of the Maastricht Center for Transatlantic Studies in the Netherlands. He is the author of The Comedian as Confidence Man: Studies in Irony Fatigue (1997) and The Civil War in American Culture (2006).

List of Figures; List of Case Studies; Acknowledgements; Chronology of 1970s Culture; Introduction: The Intellectual Context; 1. Fiction and Poetry; 2. Television and Drama; 3. Film and Visual Culture; 4. Popular Music and Style; 5. Public Space and Spectacle; Conclusion: Rethinking the 1970s.