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1970s



  • The Carter Presidency Wasn't How we Remember It

    by Kai Bird

    While he was pessimistic about the moral quality of politics, a biographer says that the 39th president was capable of ruthless pragmatism that helped him achieve more than he is credited for, though it cost him reelection. 



  • The Case for Blondie as the Sound of the 70s

    by Kevin Dettmar

    While the decade's pop scene was undeniably eclectic, there's an argument to be made that the New York group was at the center of the most lasting trends of the 1970s. 



  • Anastasia Curwood on New Shirley Chisholm Bio

    By framing Chisholm as a person with a life history, Curwood elevates knowledge of the New York congresswoman from a "first major party candidate" to a political theorist and visionary. 


  • "Pour Myself a Cup of Ambition": The 1970s Echo in Today's Union Revival

    by Ellen Cassedy and Lane Windham

    This Labor Day, we’re hopeful about the renewed energy and excitement for workplace organizing—especially by women workers—and cautiously optimistic that today’s workers may overcome the sorts of corporate tactics that blocked organizing in the 1970s.



  • Rescuing Shirley Chisholm's Life from Symbolism

    by Anastasia Curwood

    Writing a biography of the Congresswoman and presidential candidate required working through the distinction between Shirley Chisholm the symbol and the much more complex reality of Shirley Chisholm the woman, to see how big trends in Black history unfolded at a human scale.



  • We Got a Great Big Convoy

    by Dan Albert

    The media obscured the reality of recent protests in Ottawa and Washington by unquestioningly adopting a mythology of the North American trucker drawn from the 1970s when independent truckers had real grievances.



  • Betty Davis, Pioneering Queen of Funk, Dies at 77

    Her brief marriage to jazz great Miles Davis and ultimate withdrawal from the music business have overshadowed Betty Davis's legacy as a songwriter and performer with lasting influence beyond her album sales. 



  • The Four Secrets to Success for "Gonzo Journalism"

    by Peter Richardson

    Hunter S. Thompson's emergence as a major media figure came from the convergence of the souring of John F. Kennedy-style liberalism and collaborations with fellows like illustrator Ralph Steadman who launched HST's interpretive and visceral style as a critique of the Nixon years. 



  • Government Regulation is Necessary, but it has to be Smart

    by Paul Sabin

    Two legislative initiatives championed by the Carter administration show the challenge of balancing strong environmental regulation with administrative efficiency and accountability. The balance has, of course, been difficult to strike. 



  • Edsall: Abortion Has Always Been Part of Broader Politics

    Thomas Edsall draws on the work of historians Katherine Stewart, Randall Balmer, Jefferson Cowie and Darren Dochuk, plus other scholars, to argue that the "right to life" movement grew from the movement of resistance to school integration and today is sustained by politics of masculinity.