Historical fiction is a site of postmodernism. In whatever historical period a book takes place, we all bring associations and images to that time period. The recent past is obviously easier to conjure and reference with the visual support of film and photography. The 1970s were an especially important time in cultural history in the United States. After the end of the 1960s and the intense cultural upheaval, people were either searching for stability or looking for more freedom. The past of the American Dream was gone, and everyone was looking for something new. The rise of neo-Hollywood, musical genres like punk, and innovative art movements all mixed together to create a visually rich, innovative decade that many writers still draw from for inspiration. Novels set in the 1970s take on the arts and culture of the time, as well as the world-shaking anxieties humming under the surface.
For movies and television, the 1970s are an excellent setting because of the fashion and design explosion. One of the best things about the Daisy Jones & the Six adaptation is the fashion. Our familiarity with the colorful 1970s makes the books equally engaging to read and easy to imagine. There’s also something about the 1970s that attracts literary minds. I’m personally invested in reading about the 1970s because so much of what was going on with that decade rhymes with what’s going on right now. The 1970s were a decade where so much was new, and that’s why they’re still so enchanting. From big to small stories, these books are engrossing and an excellent option for an inter-generational book club.
Tales from Half a Century Ago
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
Written in the style of a contemporary oral history looking back on the 1970s, journalist S. Sunny Shelton tracks the history of beloved, innovative, genre-busting music duo Opal & Nev. Opal is a Black female music icon who unexpectedly teamed up with a British guy named Nev. Their music started a movement, but being a firebrand figure wasn’t as lucrative for Opal as it was for Nev. As things lead up to their reunion concert, old secrets come to light.
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
New York City in the 1970s was falling apart at the seams. The economic conditions of the time and the counterculture meant the city was in a time of renewal. Harlem was still a cultural center, and this book follows three important years in Ray Carney’s life. As he tries to establish a legitimate career, he comes into contact with Blaxploitation film sets, unscrupulous opportunists (politicians), and constant neighborhood drama.
Past Tense
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Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Feminist history usually celebrates birth control as a moment of freedom and self-determination for all women. But the history of the development of these treatments is incredibly fraught. Told from 2016 and looking back on 1973, Civil Townsend reflects on her time at a federally-funded family planning clinic in Montgomery, Alabama. When two extremely young, clearly pre-pubescent girls are made to receive birth control, she starts to question what exactly they’re doing and unravels systemic injustice perpetrated against thousands of poor Black girls. Novels like these are crucial for framing the history of women’s rights, especially to understand how gains in bodily autonomy were also weaponized against poor women, especially poor Black women.
Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Starting in the summer of 1978, this is the perfect story of a second chance at love later in life. When Erica and Laure meet in Paris, the immediate attraction between them is a mix of fate and the romance swirling around them. They indulge in the excesses of Paris and each other. After their summer, they stay in contact sporadically. Much later, that beautiful summer still holds them together, and they consider what it would mean to truly be together.
Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer
Eager to get out of high school and start her real life as the coolest musical journalist in New York City, Jasmine is a funny, deeply relatable teenage protagonist. To make her college application iron-clad, she runs for class president (after saying on her application that she already was). But because of the Iranian Revolution in 1978, she and her Iranian family are seen as enemies by their neighbors. Jasmine wants to move on with her life, but her competing priorities aren’t so easy to reconcile.
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell
In the summer of 1976, there was a record-breakingly terrible heatwave in London. Gretta, an Irish matriarch, is suffering extra during the horrible weather event because her husband has recently left without a trace. Her three grown-up children, Michael, Monica, and Aoife, return to help her and figure out what happened. When the group returns to Ireland, even more family secrets come to light, and they all have to deal with old wounds.
Historical fiction tends to have resonance with our contemporary moment. If you’re looking for more decades to explore, try some books from the 1960s, or some set in the 1980s and 1990s.
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