Customer Reviews

The Big Book of the 70's

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
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I love the "Big Book" series, and this entry is no exception. It's a cultural history text for the discerning hipster. More than just a review of the Me Decade's fads, it examines the 1970's biggest news stories and most notorious personalities. The artwork, produced by dozens of comicdom's most talented pencilers, ranges from cartoony to photorealistic. But don't let the term "comicbook" throw you. Lots of informative, entertaining historical research is here. Learn more about what the Seventies were like, or reminisce about how much cooler things were back then.(Yeah, right.)

This is the latest volume in Paradox Press' excellent Big Books series. It proves to be another winner! It chronicles the Me Decade, and analyzes how it affects society as we know it in this decade. It covers a lot of the wacky memories, like pet rocks, mood rings, and the fashions, plus some of the not-so-wacky memories, like the gasoline shortage and the Iranian hostage crisis. As someone born in the 1970s, I truly enjoyed this. But you don't have to be a child of the '70s to like it too!

I love the "Big Book" series, and this entry is no exception. It's a cultural history text for the discerning hipster. More than just a review of the Me Decade's fads, it examines the 1970's biggest news stories and most notorious personalities. The artwork, produced by dozens of comicdom's most talented pencilers, ranges from cartoony to photorealistic. But don't let the term "comicbook" throw you. Lots of informative, entertaining historical research is here. Learn more about what the Seventies were like, or reminisce about how much cooler things were back then.(Yeah, right.)

I used this book as a teaching tool for a US History class and it worked like a charm. I wouldn't teach a lesson based entirely on the comic strips, but they are a great way to illustrate things. For instance, we had one week to learn about the USA in the 70's, and we had to cover the Vietnam War, the Oil Crisis, 70's fashion, women's lib, decaying cities, etc. One lesson may not be enough time to give the students a solid understanding, but some kids understand pictures better than words. The illustration help "speed things along" so that we can move on quicker.

Look at the strip on Sesame Street as an example; if you were born after 1985, you won't remember the age when kids programs were more limited.

This is one of the better ones in the Big Book Of Series. It is not a jaw dropper like Big Book of Conspiracies or Big Book of Weird, but it is still a fun read.
I was not born until the 80's, but I thought this book was great. I never knew that Kissinger could be an intresting guy. This is all the cool stuff that you never got to see in That 70's Show. From the Son of Sam murders to the Pet Rock and the Brady Bunch it covers the wackiest decade with some amazing art work.
I just hope they do a Big Book of the 80's some day.

Comic book-style stories explain the fads, events, people, music, sports, and everything else about one of the more colorful decades in history. Trying to cover pet rocks and Viet Nam in the same book leads to some inevitable unevenness, of course, and the serious topics are often trivialized or over-simplified. But there are already many books on Watergate; buy this book to learn about streaking and disco.

Pet Rocks, mood rings, streaking - They're all here. But this book also covers some of the heavier stuff from the "me" decade - politicians, drugs, riots, terrorism - and all very entertainingly. The art, as always, ranges from good to very good, and the writing is mostly sharp.

I did notice a lot of stuff overlooked. We get lots of history of television aimed at the young, but no "All in the Family" or "Mary Tyler Moore". Also, the movie history leaves out disaster flicks, mainstream gore, and so-called "blaxploitation" movies. But that's not really a fault so much as a good excuse for a Volume II.

Some interesting material here, much of it similar to the underground comics genre. There are some fun stories here (like the whole Symbionese Liberation Army episode with Patty Hearst) but other stuff I really couldn't get into. Not a serious work despite the inclusion of a bibliography.

I put off taking Amazon up on the recommendation to buy this book (i had bought 4 "big books" in the past) I finally ordered it and received it Friday. I got it just in time because TLC ran a 70s special Sunday and FX has started showing 54. So now I can watch and read about the decade I was born in. I am planning on taping both this week when it airs again so I can have a 70s tape to go along with my book. ( Just wish my old beta vcr still worked lol)