This is Who We Were: In the 1970s assembles a remarkable personal and realistic look into America's past. This new volume features nearly 30 profiles of people living and working in the 1970s, painting a complete picture of what it was like to live in America in this period. These stories portray both struggling and successful Americans from various economic classes, occupations, and regions across the country, capturing a wide range of thoughts and emotions.

Table of Contents

• Essay on the 1970s
• Introduction
• Section One: Profiles
• This section contains 28 profiles of individuals and families living and working in the 1970s. It examines their lives at home, at work, and in their neighborhoods. Based upon historic materials, personal interviews, and diaries, the profiles give a sense of what it was like to live in the years 1970 to 1979.
• 1970: Co-creator of Sesame Street
• 1970: Earth Day Advocate
• 1971: Vietnam Veteran
• 1971: Life Insurance Agent
• 1972: Grateful Dead Fanatic
• 1972: Wrigly Family Engineer
• 1973: Vietnam POW
• 1973: Summer Intern at Family's Coal Company
• 1973: Basketball Player & Coach
• 1975: Antique Dealers
• 1975: Ear, Nose & Throat Doctor
• 1975: Jamacian Immigrant & Caregiver
• 1976: Music Writer & Critic
• 1976: Inventor of Liquid Paper
• 1977: Daughter of Single Mother
• 1977: Professional Hockey Player
• 1977: American in China Helps Refugees
• 1977: Elementary School Principal
• 1977: Real Estate Lawyer & Antique Store Owners
• 1978: Roumanian Immigrant & Photojournalist
• 1978: Champion Sailboat Crew Member
• 1978: Founder of Sunshine Orange Juice Company
• 1979: Boxing Cutman
• 1979: Hispanic Musician
• 1979: Vietnamese Immigrants
• 1979: Family Business Owner
• 1979: U.S. Marine
• 1979: Financial Whiz Kid
• Section Two: Historical Snapshots
• This section includes lists of important “firsts” in America, from technical advances and political events to new products and top-selling books. Combining American history with fun facts, these snapshots present an easy-to-read overview of what happened in the 1970s.
• Preface
• Early 1970s
• Mid 1970s
• Late 1970s
• Section Three: Economy of the Times
• This section looks at a wide range of economic data, including prices for food, clothing, transportation, and housing, plus reprints of actual advertisements for products and services of the time. It includes comparable figures for expenditures, income, and prices, plus a valuable year-by-year listing of the value of a dollar.
• Preface
• Consumer Expeditures
• Annual Income
• Selected Prices
• Value of a Dollar Index 1860-2014
• Section Four: All Around Us—What We Saw, Wrote, Read & Listened To
• This section includes reprints of newspaper and magazine articles, speeches, and other items designed to help readers focus on what was on the minds of Americans in the 1970s. These 39 original pieces show how popular opinion was formed, and how American life was affected.
• All Around Us—1970s
• Preface
• “Organizing the High Schools,” by Judy Penhiter, WIN Magazine, May 1970
• “March 14 Draft Card Turn-in in Chicago,” WIN Peace and Freedom through Nonviolent Action, May 1, 1970
• “Students Strike Against Cambodia,” Iconoclast, Reading, Pennsylvania, May 1970
• “What's Troubling High School Students?” Today's Education, September 1970
• “California Reservists Speak Out Against War,” WIN Peace and Freedom through Nonviolent Action, December 15, 1970
• “Sky Spies to Watch Pollution,” Martinsville Bulletin (Virginia), March 3, 1970
• “Pollution Clean-up of Nation Will Take Time, Experts Warn,” by Alton Blakeslee, Martinsville Bulletin, March 19, 1970
• “The Failures of Educational Reform,” by Charles E. Silberman, Crisis in the Classroom, 1970
• “Conservationists Disappointed,” Martinsville Bulletin, April 2, 1970
• “Correpondence Between Nicholas Bageac and Henry W. Allen,” Department of State, Washington, D.C
• “Payroll Leadership the Key, UCAN Tries to Break Cycle,” by Wes Iversen, Omaha Sun, April 1, 1971
• “‘71 Year of the Ballot for Midlands’ Youth,” Omaha World-Herald, December 31, 1971
• “Women Against Themselves,” by Miriam Allen deFord, The Humanist, January/February 1971
• “The Family Is out of Fashion,” by Ann Richardson Roiphe, The New York Times Magazine, August 15, 1971
• “For They Are All Honorable Men,” by Jan Barry, WIN Peace and Freedom through Nonviolent Action, March 15, 1971
• “The Crucial Math of Motherhood,” Life, May 19, 1972
• “All about a Subject You Can Sink Your Teeth Into,” by Norman Mark, Today's Health, November 1972
• “Making Marines, Boot Camp Is Still the Meanest 11 Weeks of a Recruit's Life,” by Richard Lawrence Stack, Life, November 24, 1972
• “Avery Repeats Stop Winter Olympics View,” Pacific Stars and Stripes, February 13, 1972
• “IBM Feels Bite of Growing Computer Leasing Industry,” Lebanon Daily News (Pennsylvania), August 14, 1972
• “The ‘Weaker Sex’ Comes on Strong,” Life, May 19, 1972
• “Going Home,” January 19, 1973
• “Length of Schoolboy's Hair Sharply Divides Community,” Fort Myers News-Press, November 23, 1975
• “Critical Area Study of Charlotte Harbor Delayed,” Fort Myers News-Press, October 22, 1975
• “Down and Out in America,” by members of the American Studies Program, SUNY at Buffalo, The New York Times Magazine, February 9, 1975
• “Paper Restoring: A Scary Business,” The New York Times, May 3, 1975
• “Computer Feeds Crop of Chickens,” Clovis News Journal (New Mexico), March 23, 1975
• “Housing for the Aged in Suburbia: Even the Affluent Find It Hard to Keep Up,” by Wendy Schuman, The New York Times, April 18, 1976
• “It's 1986 and Every Student Has a Calculator,” by George Immerzeel, Instructor, April 1976
• “Stanley Cup Well Running Dry for Flyers,” by Paul Giordano, Bucks County Courier Times (Pennsylvania), May 14, 1976
• “Inflation Still Potent, ‘78 Slump Inevitable,” by James L. Green, Professor of Economics, University of Georgia, 1977
• “Does Atlanta Want Good Theater?” by Barbara Thomas, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 17, 1977
• Editorial, “Economy and Energy,” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 18, 1977
• International Rescue Committee, Hong Kong, Annual Report for 1977
• “CBS Inventor Recalled First Color Telecast,” Naples Daily News, December 8, 1977
• “Intrepid Joins Bich Team as French Hone for 1980,” Newport Daily News, August 17, 1978
• “Nepal Is Nepal, New York Is ‘Fat City,’” by David Jarmul, The New York Times, June 9, 1979
• “New Oxford's Powers Keeps Getting Better,” by Jim Loose, The Gettysburg Times, February 1, 1979
• “Rodgers Could Taste Third Boston Marathon Victory,” Aiken Standard (South Carolina), April 17, 1979
• Bibliography