No direction home : the American family and the fear of national decline, 1968-1980 / Natasha Zaretsky.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zaretsky, Natasha, 1970-

Contributor:

ebrary, Inc.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Middle class--United States--Economic conditions.

Middle class.

Middle class--Political activity--United States.

Middle class--United States--History.

History.

Middle class--Political activity.

Economic conditions.

United States--Social conditions--1960-1980.

United States.

Social conditions.

United States--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 320 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2007]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Between 1968 and 1980, fears about family deterioration and national decline were ubiquitous in American political culture. In No Direction Home, Natasha Zaretsky shows that these perceptions of decline profoundly shaped one another. Throughout the 1970s, anxieties about the future of the nuclear family collided with anxieties about the direction of the United States in the wake of military defeat in Vietnam and in the midst of economic recession, Zaretsky explains. By exploring such themes as the controversy surrounding prisoners of war in Southeast Asia, the OPEC oil embargo of 1973-74, and debates about cultural narcissism, Zaretsky reveals that the 1970s marked a significant turning point in the history of American nationalism. After Vietnam, a wounded national identity - rooted in a collective sense of injury and fueled by images of family peril - exploded to the surface and helped set the stage for the Reagan Revolution. With an innovative analysis that integrates cultural, intellectual, and political history, No Direction Home explores the fears that not only shaped an earlier era but also have reverberated into our own time.

Contents:

Introduction

Homeward unbound : prisoners of war, national defeat, and the crisis of male authority

Getting the house in order : the oil embargo, consumption, and the limits of American power

"The great male cop-out" : productivity lag and the end of the family wage

The spirit of '76 : the Bicentennial and Cold War revivalism

The world as a mirror : narcissism, "malaise," and the middle-class family

Conclusion : The familial roots of Republican domination.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-304) and index.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2013. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.

OCLC:

655726394

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.