Customer Reviews

The Seventies Now: Culture as Surveillance (New Americanists)

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This is an extremely educational and informative piece of work, especially regarding the details of the Nixon, Ford, Johnson and Carter administration, along with extensive information about the Vietnam War, WWI, WWII and the Watergate crisis. The literature section was fascinating. It was exciting to read the brilliant poetry of Adrienne Rich and John Ashbery. Rich's poetry touched my heart because it focused on the suffering of women who lacked a voice in their defense against discrimination. Rich emphasized what women desired socially and in the workplace. Her poem titled, "Sources," begs for women's freedom and democracy. It plans to break away from the silence and to end female discrimination. What was inspiring about poet Ashbery was that he instructed his students to write poems based on paintings. For example, Ashbery's poem titled, "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror," was very intriguing, due to the idea that one does not see one's reflection when looking in the mirror. The painting depicts how we long to change, yet we must accept ourselves as we are. Sometimes we feel trapped with ourselves and isolated from the exterior world. We are on a constant strive for acceptance to be in unison with the outside world. What impressed me a great deal was artist, Jasper John's crosshatching paintings. For example, his painting titled, Cicada, (1979), encouraged individuals to analyze a painting, uncover the mystery and meaning behind the drawing and to focus on the unseen. I especially enjoyed reading about the unique fashion of the 1970s, the beginnings of disco and punk music and popular films like: Carrie, Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Jaws and Saturday Night Fever. The book grabs the attention of readers who have experienced the 1970's and those of a later generation who wished that they were there. I liked the idea behind Toni Morrison's book titled, The Bluest Sky, because it reeducates away from white ideals and beauty that imprison African Americans. Stephen Paul Miller's work help readers remember the early forms of self-expression in the 1970's and the courage of women on their road to freedom. The title of Stephen Miller's work, The Seventies Now: Culture as Surveillance, is appropriate because the 1970's was a time of renewal and change and an exchange of new ideas, freedoms and individualism. American culture was under surveillance because people wanted to be themselves by stressing their uniqueness. Alteration in people's speech, behavior, and in other forms of expression is the reason why our culture was under surveillance. Stephen Miller demonstrated a creative style of writing by gradually moving from one topic to another, which added variety to my reading. This is an excellent source of relevant information for students who want to relate to or explore the era of the 1970's. Stephen Paul Miller has displayed his imaginative side. His splendid choice of words describes the 1970's in full accuracy and makes this piece a true learning experience.

Miller elucidates his thesis brilliantly and concisely in the book's introduction. His "micro-periodizing" of American culture deconstructs and relocates the seventies decade with reference to the sixties cultural revolution and the Reaganomics of the eighties. Now that we have the hindsight of the nineties...this book was just waiting to be written! Miller micro-periodizes cultural phenomena within the political context of the Nixon Era. While Miller is indebted to Foucault's theory of periodization, he takes his departure from Foucault's grid to account for changes between epistemes. The first chapter defines the concept of "rippling epistemes" to account for the fact that epistemes are always in transition. This serves as a very coherent and insightful thesis for the book.

Specific strengths of the book are the critiques of literature, painting and cinema. The points of view regarding the works of John Ashbery, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns are radical and creative. Miller's sophistication with poetry and painting is truly impressive. Also, the feminist critiques of the works of Toni Morrison, Adrienne Rich and Sam Shepard present new ways of looking at the texts which would benefit students and scholars alike.

It should be emphasized that the book will have value to the public at large (and not just scholars and students). The references to popular culture make the book quite appealing to the general public.

Miller knows his subject! Clearly, the book is the result of a lifetime of enthrallment with the subject matter. Highly recommendable! A tour de force!

Dr. Miller has succeeded not merely in creating a wholly fresh analysis of America in the 1970's, but in developing a new set of critical aparati. Very impressive and useful work.