Reading Questions for NYC in the Seventies

1. What about the 70s in NYC seems troubling for our present situation. What lessons are scary?

2. What was good about NYC in the 70s, despite all the troubles.

3. In a list of 14 words, describe NYC in the seventies.

4. Would you have moved to NYC in the 70s, given what you've read about the city? Explain.

Answer after watching the movie Escape from New York. Include information from the readings.

5. Popular history is little more than a collection of myths and metaphors. What are the key myths and metaphors of New York City in the 1970s that people string together as the history of NYC in that period?

6. Is Escape from New York a comedy? Is it an attack on New York City? Is it sympathetic to NYC? What is it trying to say?