No Direction Home: The American Family and the Fear of National Decline, 1968-1980

by Natasha Zaretsky

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.

Genres: History, Politics, American History

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2007

Reviews

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The US in the 1970s took multiple hits to the guts. The POWs in Vietnam (even though we had fewer than in previous wars). Losing the Vietnam War. The oil crisis. Young men rebelling against assembly line work. Women working outside the home. As Zaretsky shows, these were widely interpreted as not merely hurting the country but hurting the family (when men were held prisoner in Vietnam for example, women lost their husbands, kids lost their daddy). Or they were the family's fault — too permissive with kids, now they're running wild! — and particularly women's fault for getting all feminist and independent.
Zarestky concludes that while America debated what it all meant during the 1970s itself, Reagan managed to resolve the debate with his 1980 campaign presenting himself as the protector of American families against all the terrible threats that had plunged us into decline.

[Palloma Araujo · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her historical analysis on the contradictions of the 1970’s, Zaresky details the amalgamation of the family into political life. As women entered into new frontiers such as the workplace, the major malaises of the 70’s also placed greater emphasis on how the family contextualizes itself in the face of political strife.

Through the campaigns to bring American prisoners of war back to their families to the analysis of narcissism, the family became a victim of dying ideas and the sickness of its time. The mother, no longer a private figure, is now the marker of generational prosperity.

In 300 or so pages, Zaresky’s analysis on the perceptions of the white, middle class family create the stepping stones for Reagan to step upon in his campaign, and fundamentally cement the ideas of the classic American family.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very insightful and thought out. However, many lines could be removed and it could be just as well understood. A full third of the book seems to be a defense of Christopher Lasch.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure brilliance. The reason I entered the field of American Studies was to be able to produce work this good. I'm still trying...