Baily, Beth L., and David Farber, eds., America in the Seventies, University Press of Kansas, 2004.

America in the Seventies is a collection of essays by leading scholars in the field. These essays address such issues as the cultural despair of the decade; analyze elements of seventies' culture such as film, music, and advertising; and discuss the attempt by Americans to redefine themselves in the 1970s.

Douglas, Susan, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, Three Rivers Press, 1995.

This book focuses on media images of women in the last fifty years of the twentieth century. Douglas's discussions regarding the 1970s help in contextualizing the cultural atmosphere of Sebold's The Lovely Bones.

Evans, Sarah, Born for Liberty, Simon & Schuster, 1997.

This one-volume history of American women examines the changing role of women in this country. The later chapters, particularly chapters 11-12, prove helpful in understanding...