This collection of essays highlights the variety of 1970s culture, and shows how it responded to the transformations that were taking place in that most elusive of decades. The 1970s was a period of extraordinary change on the social, sexual and political fronts. Moreover, the culture of the period was revolutionary in a number of ways; it was sometimes florid, innovatory, risk-taking and occasionally awkward and inconsistent. The essays collected here reflect this diversity and analyse many cultural forms of the 1970s. The book includes articles on literature, politics, drama, architecture, film, television, youth cultures, interior design, journalism, and contercultural happenings. Its coverage ranges across phenomena as diverse as the Wombles and Woman's Own. The volume offers an interdisciplinary account of a fascinating period in British cultural history. This book makes an important intervention in the field of 1970s history. It is edited and introduced by Laurel Forster and Sue Harper, both experienced writers, and the book comprises work by both established and emerging scholars. Overall it makes an exciting interpretation of a momentous and colourful period in recent culture.
About the Author: Laurel Forster is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Portsmouth. Her research interests include women's literature, history and cultures. She has published articles on the work of modernist writer May Sinclair, co-edited The Recipe Reader (Ashgate, 2003) with Janet Floyd, and contributed chapters which explore relationships between media forms, representations of women (often in domestic contexts), and literary and cultural theories. Her involvement with the Portsmouth AHRC 1970s project has led to articles on feminism, television and magazines of the decade. She is currently working on a longer study of feminist magazines. Sue Harper is Emeritus Professor of Film History at the University of Portsmouth. She has written a range of articles on British cinema, and her books include: Picturing the Past: the Rise and Fall of the British Costume Film (BFI, 1994); Women in British Cinema: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Continuum, 2000); British Cinema of the 1950s: the Decline of Deference (OUP, 2003) with Vincent Porter; and The New Film History (Palgrave, 2007) with James Chapman and Mark Glancy. Her forthcoming books include British Cinema of the 1970s: the Boundaries of Pleasure (with Justin Smith) and Beyond the Archive. Sue was Principal Investigator of the Arts and Humanities project at Portsmouth on British cinema in the 1970s.