Mad As Hell by Dominic Sandbrook

This recently published book tells the tale of the United States in the 1970's what Sandbrook calls the rise of the populist right. Sandbrook, the author of several timepiece British histories captures the 1970's culturally, economically and most of all politically.

I read the book and enjoyed it and yet in no way would I call this a must read. It was an adequate history that broke no new ground. I did not find there any new look at the cultural impact of rock and roll or the ERA movement. In short if one had read no history of the seventies this might be an adequate place to stop but how many people with no background would be reading this book.

The bar is set pretty high for this type of book as some great books have been written, the best far and away in my opinion being David Halberstam book The Fifties. Of course Sandbrook is no Halberstam. Few are.

The one thing you do come away with in this book is the absolute failure of Jimmy Carter's Presidency. Taking a look at his administration should be good advice for anybody who thinks it is easy to govern as an " outsider" or that a President with his party in control of both houses is a lock to get his agenda through. Of course Carter lived in the pre filubuster as government practices of today, no Carter's problems were his own party and his evident belief that he did not need them.

Thinking of interest rates of 20 percent and inflation in double digits annually in comparison with how things are now ( and how tough they seem now) makes us realize how the late seventies were a very rough time in America.

An interesting book but certainly nothing new.