I'm old enough to remember what happened in 1974 and I think it was a turning point in western history with some elements in common with this year.
Someone wrote that if you don't know the history you're condemned to se it repeating. This is what is happening
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

In 1974 I was eight, so I was old enough that I do recall a lot of things from the ‘decade that taste forgot,’ as it is laughingly called. Seeing my teenage daughter in flared jeans and wide collars, makes me reflect that all tastes, even bad taste, comes round again and so I enjoyed this trip through a particular Seventies year.

Nick Rennison goes through 1974 month by month, looking at sports, politics and culture. Mainly, this is a British view of history, but it is also worldwide. The year began with the three-day week, power cuts and Ted Heath. I do recall those times – as Rennison points out, for many, including children, that era of candles were also quite exciting. There were two general elections in the UK in this year, with the heads of main parties being Ted Heath, Harold Wilson and Jeremy Thorpe.

This was a year of unrest and of the Troubles, which saw bombings on the mainland. There was an attempt to kidnap Princess Anne, the emergence of ABBA, David Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs,’ the resignation of Nixon, a high wire walk between the Twin Towers, Lord Lucan and many other events. I enjoy books like this. Although so many important world events are seen as snippets, they can lead you onto other books. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley.

This was a fantastically put together book that had covered a wide range of views of what was a far more historically significant year than I initially presumed.

Whilst disproportionately focused on UK history of this year (multiple elections energy crisis ect) it gave me an insight into less well known events around the world like the carnation revolution in Portugal.

I was 12 in 1974 and can recall the year fairly well, these memories are of course overlayed with various television images and modern history accounts, suffice to say the 1970s, especially the mid to late 70s is an era that I find endlessly fascinating. Once I heard about 1974: Scenes from a Year of Crisis (2023) by Nick Rennison I was all in.

It's a simple concept. A chronological month-by-month trawl through 1974 with a short description and analysis of key events from each month. Examples of what's here include Abba winning the Eurovision Song Contest, Ali versus Frazier in the Rumble in the Jungle, the release of Godfather II, the three day week, the theft of a Vermeer from Kenwood House in Hampstead, a spy caught in the upper echelons of the West German government, Lord Lucan going on the run, the Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, John Stonehouse faking his own death, and the final episode of Monty Python. There's plenty more, and so if that's the sort of thing that piques your interest then dive right in.

I enjoyed it very much, both having my memory refreshed and learning some new interesting information too.

Histories of individual years seem to be published more and more frequently and I turned to this expecting a straightforward and perhaps workmanlike narrative. In fact, Nick Rennison's narrative races along, being both informative and entertaining. The structure of focusing on handful of key incidents by month enables him to cover a lot of ground - internationally and thematically - and I learned a lot. Recommended.