It Seemed Like Nothing Happened: America in the 1970s

by Peter N. Carroll

In this unique, comprehensive history of the 1970s, we learn about international developments: the war in Cambodia, Nixon's trip to China, the oil embargo and resulting gas shortage, the Mayaquez incident, the Camp David accords, the Iranian capture of the U.S. embassy and the taking of hostages, the ill-fated rescue mission. All this signaled a decline in American power and influence. We also learn about domestic politics: Kent State, the Pentagon Papers, Haynsworth and Carswell, the Eagleton affair, the rise of ticket splitting, inflation, recession, unemployment, Watergate, Agnew's resignation, the Saturday night massacre, Nixon's resignation, the pardon for draft evaders, Proposition 13, the politicization of organized religion, the conservative shift in the Democratic Party, and the Reagan electoral landslide. Carroll reminds us of tragedies and occasional moments of levity, bringing up the names Patricia Hearst, George Jackson and Angela Davis, Wilbur Mills and the Argentina Firecracker, Wayne Hays and Elizabeth Ray, Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

450 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Carroll's It Seemed Like Nothing Happened: The Tragedy and Promise of America in the 1970s is a readable historical narrative exploring how Americans awoke from the sixties to find themselves irrevocably estranged from the institutions and values of a 1950s America that believed it could do no wrong.

So many of the trends of the past century began to shift - denominational affiliation feel off dramatically while religious sentiment rose, the long migration from rural America to the cities slowed and reversed itself, with many leaving the city for the suburbs and even rural areas; given Vietnam, Kent State, and Watergate youth exhibited strong disillusions with their parents' world and they voted less, rebelled against public education as a social good, and questioned gender roles and sexual mores thereby changing what was considered socially acceptable behavior; the new attacks on promising trends in racial equity coupled with stagflation that meant high inflation and high unemployment meant the poor remained poor and increasingly destitute as well; and the white working class began the long, slow-slide away from decades of growing labor unions and the concomitant wages and benefits toward a more individualistic identification with their fellows in corporate board rooms, claiming solidarity regardless of class on getting government off their backs - lower taxes, less regulation, less compliance, less government period.

As Carroll argues in chapter after chapter, moving between different groups and different topics, during the 1970s American sorted through the rubble of their midcentury inheritance to put together alternative means of making meaning: some like the New Right embraced capitalism and the belief that there were no limits to American prosperity and moral righteousness; others such as the Black Panthers and AIM looked to their histories of surviving Euro-American oppression and focused on building their communities; elite Neoconservatives argued vehemently for restoring the the world of the 1950's, a Cold War era where the righteousness of the United States both at home and abroad was a given; small-is-beautiful environmentalists began building a movement focused on local communities, local power generation, local agriculture by embracing the limits of their region; and others searching for liberation outside of a Mad Men world re-configured families and communities.

Carrol's discussions of Nixon, Ford and Carter read as pertinent to the politics we are facing today - the inability of Democrats to offer a prosperous society with a strong safety net or Republicans to offer a free society with equal opportunity, of all leaders to offer appropriate redress for historical wrongs, and of all to lead the nation in supporting human rights around the globe. Carrol's narrative helps explain what did happen since the 1950s and how a nation once seen as a true beacon of opportunity lost its shine. Although accurate at a 50,000 foot level, the chapters reviewing science and technology as well as those on race and gender fall short of the ease with which Carroll handles issues of presidential politics. This unevenness in the narrative makes the book seem more speculative than it needed to be.

Yet, I keep re-reading Carroll's book every decade or so. The tragedy of Vietnam, the corruption of Watergate, the long-standing injustices waged in the the name of what was in the 1970s the white middle class seem to have their counterparts today: the tragedies of the Middle East - Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and others; the corruption at the heart of Trump's Republican Party bent solely on maintaining power; and the evil embodied in Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in May 2020.

Of course, Carroll ends his inventory of the 1970s just as Ronald Reagan gains the presidency. The book was published in 1984 and Carrol had urged us all to remain vigilant. The intervening decades saw not much better from either side of the aisle - our new president supported measures that led to the scourge of mass incarceration, he voted to support the invasion of Iraq, he has been conservative on immigration reform. He demurs from supporting significant economic measures such as student loan forgiveness and single-payer health care. We shall see if he understands the real limits of our big blue globe and takes the needed steps to address climate change, both as a leader at home and abroad.

At least he believes that science can be useful -

A lot has happened since 1970 but the hubris of our nation's power structure remains in our collective way of being a force for good. A consensus is not in the forecast so maybe we should consider a regional approach to governance, supply chains, sovereignty, a way of living in sync with the environment. Not parochial but regional - the artificial boundaries of nation-states that were drawn regardless of the landscape, the watersheds, not to mention the people, have always been harmful. Maybe it's time for a change - a nonviolent coming to terms with the limits of our planet.

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars only because it reads a bit like a textbook. Carroll is an excellent writer, making the 1970's a fascinating and simple read.

[Jim Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child of the 70s, I loved the decade, so it was somewhat invigorating reliving the memories of all that happened in that decade. First, I loved the title -- in some ways, it really did seem like nothing happened in the 1970s. I remember thinking this very thing, especially when I was in high school. Looking back, I believe I felt that way because I went through the decade comfortably numb, trying to absorb and process all that was happening. All that said, it was a rollicking ride and if you like history and essays, you'll appreciate this amazing biography of the decade where things really fell apart in many ways. For the most part, the author does an extraordinary job capturing the key events that shaped the decade, especially the political climate, economic situation, energy crisis and key cultural moments. For me, one of the surprises--although in retrospect, I do remember reading these sentiments--was the malaise around the 1976 presidential election. Certainly, I knew that folks were fed up with politicians, but I was from Georgia and Jimmy Carter's bid for the presidency--especially in the summer of 76--captivated me and so many of my family members as he vied for the Democratic nomination and ultimately won the election. We were so caught up in the hysteria of a guy from Georgia becoming president that it never even registered with me that just 54 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the election. I might have given this one five stars, except for the author's take on social trends. Overall, the book's forays into social issues were its weakest parts, and in some ways, I think he wound up projecting the way he wished things were verses the way they really were. But that's a minor criticism. Overall, this is topnotch!

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nineties book. I enjoyed it much more when I read it in the early 2000s. It catches the politics of the era well. Historians began telling the untold story of the rise of the new right at the time. And for the 1990s coming to terms with the rise of Reagan was a liberal blind spot. With all the talk of progress going on in the sixties and seventies, the left got blindsided by the rise of the new right which many at the time thought was a sideshow setback. However, the 1990s was the age of the TINA in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union. Socialism was thought to be dead as a doornail. Hell, I drank the Kool-aide and my political imagination at the time rarely ventured beyond Left-liberalism or a very tepid social democratic thought. I think historians didn't recognize the neoliberal assumptions they were marinating in and how the 1970s created them. This is a major lacuna of this book on the 1970s unseen in the TINA (there is no alternative to capitalism) 1990s what Mark Fisher called "Capitalist Realism" or the inability to have a vision outside the current capitalist order. I fell victim to it as well. My instincts were left but my imagination was constrained and many at the time were in the same boat. Amazing what crises like 2001 and 2008 and 2016 and 2020 do not only opening new vistas of horror but paradoxically of hopeful vision.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first this felt like a retread of other history books I've read on the 1970s. But as I got further into it, I realized with increasing alarm just how close the vibes of that late 70s mirrored the early 2020s. It's definitely worth reading and trying to understand where we are in history.

[Mike Mabry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Political Review


A good high level historical account, especially about the low points. Nothing much about the positives.I expected a history of the full spectrum.

[Michelle Llewellyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

As another reviewer observed, this does read like a textbook but it doesn't detract from presenting the facts in a well-organized context and format. Since I'd already read a bunch of other books about the 70's (I recommend Mad as Hell by Dominic Sandbrook as the best of the bunch)I found nothing new presented in this book that I hadn't already read before. A similar timeline: Vietnam disillusionment, Watergate, inflation, breakdown of nuclear family, culminating with the election of Reagan. A quick read and, thankfully, not as heavy handed as some of the other titles on my reading list, like David Frum's How We Got Here (still the worst of the bunch). If you only have time to read one book about the 70's, keep this title in mind.

[Brandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for a grad class.
Phenomenal survey-type book of the 1970s. Yes, it reads kind of like a textbook, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The title is, of course, ironic, and the book very successfully shows that the "Sixties" as a movement/era/idea do not at all end on December 31, 1969, and that much of great significance happened in this easily overlooked decade. Will definitely keep this one on my shelf for future reference and rereading.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long-sixties read. The 1970s were not a 'me-decade' - what seemed like a turn toward narcissism was a reaction to the collapse of the New Left coalition - the attempt to find and create new methods of solidarity and unity