text: The slowdown in growth, however, goes back further than a couple of years. The mainstream rise of skepticism can be traced as far back as the economic crisis of 1973-1974. That was when the golden years of the postwar economic boom gave way to sluggish growth. It was also when skeptic texts such as the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth and E.F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful became international bestsellers. Although America returned to growth after the 1970s recession, the pace of expansion afterward was much slower than the 1950s and 1960s.