Dazed and Confused - by Blaine T Browne (Hardcover)

About the Book

A concise overview of a neglected decade in American history as the nation reflects on its 50th anniversary.

Book Synopsis

While historians have revisited every aspect of America history in the tumultuous 1960s, coverage of the following decade is sparse. As America reflects on the 50th anniversary of the 1970s, Blaine Browne reexamines the decade's major international, political, social, cultural, economic, and intellectual developments, giving special attention to how its developments continue to impact American life. He views the decade as a major transitional era, given the death of many of the promises and hopes of the Sixties, the collapse of the post-World War II consensus, and the uncertainties of a new age in which the America might well not enjoy the preeminent global position it had held for the previous quarter century. Growing fundamental economic challenges, as well as concerns about the viability of the nation's political leadership and democratic institutions added to these anxieties. A general angst permeated national life. Whether readers are reliving the years when they came of age or exploring the 1970s for the first time, Dazed and Confused will introduce the topics and cast of characters who defined this pivotal decade in American life.

Review Quotes

"Dazed and Confused is an imaginative exploration of the 1970s that effectively challenges popular perceptions that little of historical importance happened during the much-maligned decade. In this thought-provoking book, historian Blaine Browne highlights how national politics, popular culture, economic trends, human rights struggles, and foreign policy both reflected national anxieties and intensified the uncertainty that characterized the crucial decade between the "radical" 60s and "conservative" 80s. The result is a work that is accessible to a general audience yet also useful for all students of Twentieth Century America." --Michael Butler, Kenan Distinguished Professor of History, Chair of Humanities, Flagler College

"The 1970s was a decade spliced between the dynamic 1960s and the conservative 1980s. It was an important time, a pivotal period, well characterized as an age of excess, when the sixties flamed out and self-destructed and the eighties were stillborn. To the extent that any characterization of a decade is fair or possible, the term "Me Decade" is as good as any to describe this period. Browne, a prolific writer, biographer, and bibliographer, has written fast-paced, jam-packed cornucopia of what transpired in the 1970s. Chapters are arranged topically, enabling readers to focus on whichever aspect engages them the most. For this reviewer, the chapters on popular culture--film, television, theater, and popular music--resonated particularly. Browne does not seem to miss a turn, and he is not reserved in his candid judgments on all the issues throughout the treatise. The topically arranged bibliographic essay at the end--a more compact version of the individual chapters--is valuable. This engaging and at times exhaustive volume will appeal both to those who lived through the 1970s and to a younger audience with an inchoate understanding of the time. Recommended. All readers." --Choice Reviews

Dazed and Confused is an imaginative exploration of the 1970s that effectively challenges popular perceptions that little of historical importance happened during the much-maligned decade. In this thought-provoking book, historian Blaine Browne highlights how national politics, popular culture, economic trends, human rights struggles, and foreign policy both reflected national anxieties and intensified the uncertainty that characterized the crucial decade between the "radical" 60s and "conservative" 80s. The result is a work that is accessible to a general audience yet also useful for all students of Twentieth Century America.

The 1970s was a decade spliced between the dynamic 1960s and the conservative 1980s. It was an important time, a pivotal period, well characterized as an age of excess, when the sixties flamed out and self-destructed and the eighties were stillborn. To the extent that any characterization of a decade is fair or possible, the term "Me Decade" is as good as any to describe this period. Browne, a prolific writer, biographer, and bibliographer, has written fast-paced, jam-packed cornucopia of what transpired in the 1970s. Chapters are arranged topically, enabling readers to focus on whichever aspect engages them the most. For this reviewer, the chapters on popular culture--film, television, theater, and popular music--resonated particularly. Browne does not seem to miss a turn, and he is not reserved in his candid judgments on all the issues throughout the treatise. The topically arranged bibliographic essay at the end--a more compact version of the individual chapters--is valuable. This engaging and at times exhaustive volume will appeal both to those who lived through the 1970s and to a younger audience with an inchoate understanding of the time. Recommended. All readers.

About the Author

Blaine T. Browne is Emeritus Professor at Broward College and is the author of numerous articles and books including Modern American Lives: Individuals and Issues in American History, Lives and Times: Individuals and Issues in American History, and Uncertain Order: The World in the Twentieth Century. He is coauthor with Robert C. Cottrell of 1968: The Rise and Fall of the New American Revolution (2018). He presently teaches at Oklahoma City University.