The Spirit of 1976: Commerce, Community, and the Politics of Commemoration Tammy S. Gordon. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013.

The Spirit of 1976: Commerce, Community, and the Politics of Commemoration Tammy S. Gordon. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013.Major celebrations of important events in US history always carry risks and are often quite expensive when money is spent on projects that begin with much goodwill but quickly peter off or get caught in the tripwire of legal actions. In this book, Tammy S. Gordon, an associate professor of history, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, examines the impact of the 1976 bicentennial and the way in which Americans celebrated the nation's past along with the expectations and plans that did not come to completion for one reason or another.According to the author, the bicentennial was the most important national commemoration of the twentieth century; it gave rise to broad debate over how the American Revolution should be remembered and represented. There was no lack of official activities. There was a Bicentennial Information Network (BINET); a Bicentennial Information Media program; "4th of July Weekend, 1976;" a 1975 National Bicentennial Conference; a radio kit encouraging voter registration in 1976 and public service announcements; a recording of "Get into America" (the official bicentennial theme song); Bicentennial Newsletter and Bicentennial Times, 1972-1976; a "Bicentennial USA" multimedia presentation; "Horizons on Display- Part of the Continuing American Revolution," a program cosponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA), which featured community projects developed to correct problems or enrich life; the travel industry participation project, 1975-1976; foreign celebrations, such as New Zealand's celebration of the American bicentennial, St. Paul's Cathedral, Wellington, New Zealand, 1976; the exhibit, "USA '76: The First 200 Years;" and the "World of Franklin and Jefferson" exhibition, which was produced under the auspices of the United States Information Agency for presentations in several European countries.The author presents her thesis in five chapters. In Chapter One, "Finding a Role for the 'Private Sector': The American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1966-1973," Gordon discusses the ARBC (later the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration), a federal body which was created in 1966 to oversee the commemoration. ARBC (1966-1973), and its successor, ARB A (1973-1977), were the subject of much debate and of an investigation by the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Charters, Holidays, and Celebrations. Most importantly, the author highlights the political debate that the commission first initiated in the beginning when it underestimated Americans' interest in the commemoration and initially tried to use the bicentennial to both promote the interests of Nixon campaign contributors and to bolster the public image of Nixon and the Republicans.Chapter Two, "The Sellabration: Entrepreneurs as the New Revolutionaries," looks at the pop culture aspects of the bicentennial as marketers, corporations, and entrepreneurs used the event not only for profit but also for demonstrating the social value of business and its centrality in American heritage. This section is interesting as it highlights one of the negative aspects of the 1976 celebrations, the hucksterism and get-rich schemes which were devised for this historical event. For instance, there were marketers (e. …