Why I miss the gritty greatness of the 1970s

It was a decade of disillusionment that produced some of the greatest moments in our cultural history

Nicholson
(Image credit: (AP Photo))

It might just be misplaced nostalgia for my youth (I was born in 1969), but it seems that every year I become more convinced that there was something special about American pop culture in the 1970s — something deep, gritty, dark, and tragic that flickered into being early in the decade and then winked out of existence just as suddenly a few short years later.

I miss it. And you should, too — whether or not you lived through the decade yourself.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.