The great funk

by Thomas Hine

In the sixties, as the nation anticipated the conquest of space, the defeat of poverty, and an end to injustice at home and abroad, no goal seemed beyond America's reach. Then the seventies arrived--bringing oil shocks and gas lines, the disgrace and resignation of a president, defeat in Vietnam, terrorism at the 1972 Munich Olympics, urban squalor, bizarre crimes, high prices, and a bad economy. But when things fall apart, you can take the fragments and make something fresh. Avocado kitchens and Earth Shoes may have been ugly, but they signaled new modes of seeing and being. The first generation to see Earth from space found ways to make life's everyday routines meaningful, both personally and globally. And many decided to reinvent themselves. More than a lavish catalogue of seventies culture, this is a smart, lively look at the "Me decade" through the eyes of America's sharpest design critic.--From publisher description.