Time Traveling to 1974: Celebrating a Special Year

I have enjoyed several other volumes in this series (which seems to offer more usable information than similar 'this year in history' collections), and this edition is particularly well thought out, comprehensive and entertaining at the same time. Major chapter headings are News & Current Events, Crime & Punishment, Entertainment, Sports Review, Births & Deaths, Statistics (including fascinating cost of living comparisons), Iconic Advertisements and a General chapter including Pop Culture, Technological Advancements, Fashion and Cars. 'Time Traveling to 1974' aims to include material from around the world: while much relates to English-speaking countries, the US and Britain are each well-represented. I have long researched popular show more culture and social history myself, and confess I don't know just how the author/compilers manage to gather so much unexpectedly informative material, along with a wide range of lively color images. Recommended for gift giving, for fun reading and as a helpful reference. show less

I am always interested when I read about the year I was born. This is by far the most in-depth, wide ranging book I have found. I love that it also includes true crime and the list of the most popular books, since I am obsessed.

I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

I requested this book because 1974 was a “special” year for me: it was the year I completed my high school education. So, I was looking forward to a nostalgic trip to a significant year, and that’s pretty much what was delivered.

The book was interesting, and easy to read, and most of the events and subjects covered were things I remembered, and there were some I had forgotten. I learned of some other events for the first time.

In compiling this chronicle, the author would have had to decide not only what to include, but also what could be left out. I am Australian, so I was curious to see if anything from my part of the world would be mentioned in this tome. As show more it turns out, there were two mentions, both in the sports section, one noting that Evonne Goolagong had lost the US Open Final to Billie-Jean King, and the other that Australia had, for the first time, qualified for the finals of the FIFA World Cup. Fair enough, except that there were two news stories of international significance as well. Early in the year, a burial site thought to be at least 40,000 years old was discovered in outback New South Wales. This became known as ‘Mungo Man’. In December, in fact at Christmas, the city of Darwin was all but destroyed by Cyclone Tracey, resulting in significant loss of life.

That being said, I appreciate the research that goes in to this type of compilation, and the decisions that must be made.

The nature of the book being what it is, there is little space for discussion about the reasons behind some of the events that are included. For example, what was going on in Korea that lead to the assassination attempt on the President? Perhaps the inclusion of a “further reading” section, or links to contemporary discussions might add some value to the book.

All in all, ‘Time Travelling to 1974’ provided me with an enjoyable reading experience over a couple of afternoons. show less

James R Miller, the author, included a disclaimer to the reviewer of this book, noting that the books in his Time Traveling series (select years from 1944 to 1984 thus far?) are meant to be gifts for persons celebrating birthdays or anniversaries related to the year. Hence, the subtitle "Celebrating a Special Year." I chose 1974 because I was a freshman in high school then. I was both enlightened and entertained by the quick overview of highlights in news, entertainment, fashion, music, etc. Know that the layout of these books is very rudimentary, but it works to be able to read the ~100 pages with lots of photos (clothing styles, popular ads, hot cars) quickly. They are not meant to be exhaustive, serious historical surveys of a time show more period. With that in mind, enjoy reliving your delve into the past. show less

Time Traveling to 1974 by James R. Miller is a collection of seemingly random events and facts in the United States and Britain with lots of other places thrown in. The first chapter deals with events in 1974 started with gas lines in the United States, then ABBA, a Swedish rock star group, India’s nuclear device test, politics in Portugal, tornadoes, the Forman-Ali boxing match in the Congo, Russia, Argentina, a small Native American tribe in Idaho, the movie Blazing Saddles, Japan Greece and The Wiz. I couldn’t figure out the connection between these “events” or why Blazing Saddles and ABBA needed to be in this chapter and then again in the Entertainment section. The book raced through crime, movies, TV, sports, Pop Culture, show more technology, fashion, cars, recreation, statistics on births, deaths and cost of things, in the United States but in a confusion of other countries.

It was somewhat interesting and did jog my memory in a few instances. For the most part, although I lived through 1974 as an adult, much of the book was about events that I had no interest in then, and less interest now. show less

Another great trip through time! This is another book I have read regarding "Time Travel" back to our past to relive a year in our past and I was amazed at some of the things I learned that I had no knowledge had occurred during 1974. Some of my favorite movies, musical, theater, and TV shows debuted during this year. This was definitely a turning point in history. The Author really did his homework and I applaud him for it!! For anyone interesting learning of our past, and believe me we can all learn a lot from it, this and books like it, are a needed staple for everyone's library!

Time Traveling to 1974 is another in the series of concise 100-page books that summarizes critical developments in a selected year. The eight chapters books in the series cover news and current events, crime and punishment, entertainment, sports, general information, births and deaths, statistics, and iconic advertisements. The events in each chapter are described in one-paragraph summaries, and relevant photos accompany most of them. Other books in this series have focused on 1944, 1953, 1954, 1963, 1964, 1973, and 1974.

The major political events covered in 1974 include the Yom Kuppur, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Companies embargo on oil experts, followed by a series of production cuts which created a massive, global petroleum show more shortage and the imposition of a 55 miles-per-hour speed limit in the United States. India conducted its first nuclear test. Richard Nixon resigned as President rather than face impeachment for his role in the Watergate Scandal. Eva Peron became President of Argentina and the first female President in the Western Hemisphere.

Other notable events included the discovery of China’s Terracotta Army. Ted Bundy began his murder spree, which resulted in more than thirty victims before he was apprehended. Newspaper heiress Patty Hurst was kidnapped and brainwashed by urban guerrillas calling themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army.

In entertainment news, ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo” and paved the way for entertainers from non-English-speaking countries to achieve international recognition. The top film of the year was Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks’s biting satire on racism. Other top-grossing and influential movies were The Towering Inferno (Paul Newman and Steve McQueen), Chinatown (Jack Nicholson), Save the Tiger (Jack Lemon), The Paper Chase (John Houseman), and The Sting (Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw). The best album was Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings. At the top of the television charts were Happy Days, which introduced Fonzie, All in the Family, The Waltons, Sandford and Sons, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Jeffersons.

In the sporting world, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, surpassing Babe Ruth’s career total, which stood as the record for decades. The Mohammad Ali vs George Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle,” in which Ali wore out heavily favored Foreman using a roge-a-dope technique.

The most popular books were Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein), Carrie (Stephen King), Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig), Jaws (Peter Benchley), and All the President’s Men (Carl Bernstein).

Hungarian Architect Ernø Rubic invented the Rubic’s Cube. Dr. Henry Heimlich invented the lifesaving Heimlich maneuver for clearing the throat. The Universal Bar code was introduced. The Disco dance craze swept the country, as did Dungeons and Dragons.

Notable individuals born were basketball coach Steve Nash, baseball player Derek Jeter, Actors Amy Adams Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Hilary Swank. Significant figures who died were aviator Charles Lindberg, Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, jazz musician Duke Ellington, and Oskar Schlinder.

While Americans are presently dissatisfied with inflation at 3% and unemployment at 4%, the figures in 1974 were 11.1% (inflation) and 7.% (unemployment). And the average annual income was $1,100. show less