Happy 2024, 14, 04, 94, 84… 1974! What books were being published 50 years ago?
Some background info about 1974:
The 1973 Paris Peace Accord or “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam” was signed. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) subsequently violated the agreement, invading South Vietnam and capturing capital city Saigon in April 1975.
The 1973 Oil Embargo, banning petroleum exports and cutting oil production which led to widespread fuel shortages, was lifted in March 1974. The embargo was Arab OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) members’ response to U.S. support of the Israeli military and efforts to gain leverage in the post-war peace negotiations.
The U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1971 to combat inflation along with the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, which was also an effort to ease unemployment, and limit U.S. consumption of imports. Domestic wages and prices were frozen from August 1971-April 1974.
August 9, 1974 President Richard Nixon resigns following Watergate and the Supreme Court’s rejection of his executive privilege defense. September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford, issues a full pardon to Nixon for any offenses he has, or may have, committed.
Books on the New York Times 1974 bestseller lists:
Alistair Cooke’s America (British-American author aka as host of NET’s Masterpiece Theatre) Also by Alistair Cooke
All The President’s Men (Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward played by Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in the 1976 film)
All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot) More books by Herriot
Times to Remember (Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy)Further reading: “Iron Rose: The Story of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and Her Dynasty”
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (John le Carre) The world of John le Carre
Centennial (James Michener) Michener titles in stock
Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (Merle Miller) This and another book on Ike by Miller
Burr (Gore Vidal) By and about Vidal, including “Burr”
It stands out to me that everyone mentioned so far is white...
African American Literature published in 1974:
Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou More books by Angelou
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin Also by/about James Baldwin
Search for the Beloved Community: The Thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Kenneth L. Smith (one of King’s seminary professors) and Ira G. Zepp, Jr.; foreword Lewis V. Baldwin Further reading on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Death and Life of Malcolm X by Peter Goldman Quotes from Malcolm X
Carter G. Woodson Book Award 1974 winner: Rosa Parks by Eloise Greenfield and Gil Ashby Also by Eloise Greenfield (& Lessie Jones Little, with material by Pattie Ridley Jones)
Happy New Year and Happy Reading!