Most would agree that American culture changed dramatically from the 1960s to the 1980s. Yet the 1970s, the decade “in between,” is still somehow thought of as a cultural wasteland. In The Seventies Now Stephen Paul Miller debunks this notion by examining a wide range of political and cultural phenomena—from the long shadow cast by Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal to Andy Warhol and the disco scene—identifying in these phenomena a pivotal yet previously unidentified social trend, the movement from institutionalized external surveillance to the widespread internalization of such practices. The concept of surveillance and its attendant social ramifications have been powerful agents in U.S. culture for many decades, but in describing how during the 1970s Americans learned to “survey” themselves, Miller shines surprising new light on such subjects as the women’s movement, voting rights enforcement, the Ford presidency, and environmental legislation. He illuminates the significance of what he terms “microperiods” and analyzes relevant themes in many of the decade’s major films—such as The Deer Hunter, Network, Jaws, Star Wars, and Apocalypse Now—and in the literature of writers including John Ashbery, Toni Morrison, Adrienne Rich, and Sam Shepard. In discussing the reverberations of the 1969 Stonewall riots, technological innovations, the philosophy of Michel Foucault, and a host of documents and incidents, Miller shows how the 1970s marked an important period of transition, indeed a time of many transitions, to the world we confront at the end of the millennium. The Seventies Now will interest students and scholars of cultural studies, American history, theories of technology, film and literature, visual arts, and gay and lesbian studies.

The Seventies Now: Culture as Surveillance (New Americanists)

History

Miller, Stephen Paul

Americas

Duke University Press Books

Poetry. "If Walt Whitman had taken a Ph.D. in literary theory at New York University in the 1980's, and then wrote poetry, the outcome might have resembled THE BEE FLIES IN MAY. Following John Barth, Miller has constructed a funhouse: his musings refract images that contain fascinating, funny, and surreal moments of perception, but vision is distorted, twisted, sometimes made minuscule, other times writ large, and then expanded out of any proportion. both [Whitman and Miller] are poets who have written large period pieces that signify their awareness of America in crucial times"-Daniel Morris.

The Bee Flies in May

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

Marsh Hawk Press

Poetry. "Stephen Paul Miller is either the Last Poet of the New York School or the First Poet of the New New York School. Probably both..Something more or less Post Modern, Post Post Modern, Post Everything. Finding something to live for in the pain is the joy of this poetry. The Millers, pere et fils, spread it over Everything"-Bob Holman. "Stephen writes his poems on an invisible surface that breathes and grows. It's like watching good poetry happen. It goes and goes. A little tense, but wonderful for it"-Eileen Myles

Skinny Eighth Ave

Poetry. Illustrated by Noah Miller. "Our consciousness needs a new conscience: human consciousness needs a new keel. Some of its lines of design may be found in Miller's poetry"--Sam Truitt, American Book Review. "Conversational fluidity and unstrained syntax enable Miller to address politics, current events, theoretical concerns, and personal experience with critical acumen"--Barbara K. Fischer, Boston Review. "Lively, brainy, probing . . . Miller's erudite, humane, and yes, talky poems are punctuated by young Noah with exuberant drawings"--Joyelle McSweeney, Constant Critic.

Fort Dad

Poetry. "'Isn't intimacy the thin ice / of address?,' asks Stephen Miller's endlessly jaunty and energetic narrator. And he adds, 'I mean if we become one another.' Throughout this irrepressible series of imaginative intimacies and confrontations (with John Cage, with Frank O'Hara, with Taylor Mead, and dozens of other art personalities we love to read about), Miller never loses his cool, his ability to see contemporary issues and dilemmas from all angles and survive to laugh about them. A delightful book, full of what Wallace Stevens called 'the pleasures of merely circulating.'"—Marjorie Perloff

Any Lie You Tell Will Be the Truth

Poetry. "Somebody once said poetry without rhyme is like playing tennis with the net down. But Stephen Miller's poetry plays a different game in which the relevant phrase is 'nothing but net,' a series of subtle daggers, long bombs, and slam dunks: sly, funny, artful, and unforgettable. Highly recommended for sports fans and deracinated intellectuals who like being reeled into the net of critically smart poetry"—W. J. T. Mitchell.

BEING WITH A BULLET

Talisman House, Publishers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Miller, Stephen Paul. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Miller, Stephen Paul

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Miller, Stephen Paul. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Seventies Now: Culture as Surveillance (New Americanists)

The Seventies Now: Culture as Surveillance (New Americanists)

The Bee Flies in May

Skinny Eighth Ave

Fort Dad

Any Lie You Tell Will Be the Truth

BEING WITH A BULLET