The Guardian’s Ian Plenderleith ranked Dr. Kevin Mattson’s book on Jimmy Carter numero uno on his list of the top 10 books about the 1970s. Mattson is the Connor Study Professor of Contemporary History at Ohio University.
Dr. Kevin Mattson
Here are 10 magnificent books in a similar vein – not about the 70s, as such, but very much entrenched in that decade.
1. What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr President? Jimmy Carter, America’s “Malaise”, and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country by Kevin Mattson (Bloomsbury, 2010)
“This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning,” President Carter told the US in July 1979. Although Carter’s remarkably honest speech about the need for an enlightened energy policy resonated with the public, the media and the Moral Majority savaged the president for the “malaise” he supposedly believed was afflicting America (he never used that word). A fine book about the brave speech that sounded the death knell of the 70s.
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