No Direction Home: The American Family and the Fear of National Decline, 1968-1980

Contents

Preface xi Introduction 1 1 Homeward Unbound Prisoners of War, National Defeat, and the Crisis of Male Authority 25 2 Getting the House in Order The Oil Embargo, Consumption, and the Limits of American Power 71 3 “The Great Male Cop-Out” Productivity Lag and the End of the Family Wage 105 4 The Spirit of ’76 The Bicentennial and Cold War Revivalism 143 5 The World as a Mirror Narcissism, “Malaise,” and the Middle-Class Family 183 Conclusion The Familial Roots of Republican Domination 223 Notes 247 Bibliography 287 Acknowledgments 305 Index 307 c o n t e n t s Advertisements from the National Advertising Council’s campaign to publicize the plight of pows, 1972 | 34 Advertisement from the National Advertising Council’s campaign to publicize the plight of pows, 1972 | 37 “The Prisoners Return,” cover of Time magazine, 19 February 1973 | 39 Released prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm reunites with his family, 17 March 1973 | 40 Houston Post cartoon, 22 April 1974 | 81 New Yorker cartoon, 18 February 1974 | 85 Cars line up on Sunday, 23 December 1973, at a New York City gas station | 90 Workers assemble a Chevy Vega at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, 25 January 1972 | 108 Job applicants at the Ford Motor Company plant in Brook Park, Ohio, 10 March 1976 | 119 Armco Steel reaches out to the new worker in this 1970 advertisement | 125 Photo montage celebrating diversity | 153 Photo montage of the Smithsonian Institution’s 1976 Festival of American Folklife | 166 Film stills from Indian Village | 169 Christopher Lasch | 201 Jimmy Carter and Patrick Caddell at the White House | 216 Freed hostages arriving in Frankfurt, West Germany, from Algeria, 21 January 1981 | 237 Buses carry former hostages and their family members to the White House, 27 January 1981 | 238 i l l u s t r a t i o n s ...