1974: Scenes from a Year of Crisis by Nick Rennison Oldcastle Books, 256 pages, £14.99
It’s something of a trite truism that historians love dates; even so, singling out 1974 as a pivotal year in history might raise a few eyebrows. Yet in his latest book, Nick Rennison makes an enjoyable and often wry case for that year being a key moment of transition. His approach is eclectic, taking in death, sport, technology, political turmoil and cultural change. As a result, the overall effect can be somewhat dissonant – but then, one imagines, so was living through these events.
Like 1974 itself – for those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, at least – the book begins auspiciously, with an extra public holiday on New Year’s Day. This was arguably one of the high points of the year for residents of those three nations (Scotland, in its wisdom, introduced a public holiday on 1 January in 1871), because 1974 was also the year of electricity restrictions, bombings and two general elections held less than eight months apart.