2024/01/12 Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-211) and index.
Contents:
"Where were you in '62?" : the long fifties and nostalgia in seventies culture -- Rip Van Marlowe : seventies noir and the pre-sixties past -- "A committee of 215 Million people" : celebrating the bicentennial in the wake of the sixties -- Family storiesand the African American past in Alex Haley's Roots and Octavia Butler's Kindred.
Summary:
"The 1970's are frequently seen as a watershed period, an era from which sources of 21st-century American culture began to flow. But the 1970's are also seen as a particularly backward-looking time, seen by many critics as morbidly nostalgic for times before the wrenching changes that were associated with the 1960's. Happy Days: Images of the Pre-Sixties Past in Seventies America explores the relationship of the 1970's American culture to the pre-Sixties past through four case studies: representations ofthe 1950's; the emergence of neo-noir films and the reimagination of the mid-20th century figure of the hardboiled private investigator; reflections on the Revolutionary past on the occasion of the Bicentennial; and the legacy of slavery in the works of Alex Haley and Octavia Butler. Far from mere nostalgia, Americans' diverse reimaginings of the past were a significant part of what made the 1970's so culturally foundational for the decades to come"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.