"In this remarkable memoir, the qualities that have long distinguished Francine Prose’s fiction and criticism—uncompromising intelligence, a gratifying aversion to sentiment, the citrus bite of irony—give rigor and, finally, an unexpected poignancy to an emotional, artistic, and political coming-of-age tale set in the 1970s—the decade, as she memorably puts it, when American youth realized that the changes that seemed possible in the ’60s weren’t going to happen. A fascinating and ultimately wrenching book."—Daniel Mendelsohn, author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million The first literary memoir from critically acclaimed, bestselling author Francine Prose, about the close relationship she developed with activist Anthony Russo, one of the men who leaked the Pentagon Papers―and the year when our country changed. During her twenties, Francine Prose lived in San Francisco, where she began an intense and strange relationship with Tony Russo, who had been indicted and tried for working with Daniel Ellsberg to leak the Pentagon papers. The narrative is framed around the nights she spent with Russo driving manically around 1970s San Francisco, listening to his stories―and the disturbing and dramatic end of that relationship in New York. What happens to them mirrors the events and preoccupations of that historical moment in the Watergate era: the Vietnam war, drugs, women's liberation, the Patty Hearst kidnapping. At once heartfelt and ironic, funny and sad, personal and political, 1974  provides an insightful look at how Francine Prose became a writer and artist during a time when the country, too, was shaping its identity. What happens when a young writer’s coming-of-age story collides with one of the biggest political scandals in American history? A Whistleblower Story: Go behind the headlines for an intimate, firsthand account of Anthony Russo, the complex and charismatic man who helped Daniel Ellsberg leak the Pentagon Papers. - Political Coming-of-Age: Witness how a young Francine Prose finds her voice as a writer against the turbulent backdrop of the Vietnam War, radical activism, and women’s liberation. - Counterculture History: Experience the charged atmosphere of a nation grappling with its identity, from the Patty Hearst kidnapping to the lingering idealism of the 1960s. - An Unforgettable Voice: Discover the incisive wit, sharp intelligence, and unflinching honesty that have made Francine Prose one of her generation’s most acclaimed literary figures. “In this remarkable memoir, the qualities that have long distinguished Francine Prose’s fiction and criticism—uncompromising intelligence, a gratifying aversion to sentiment, the citrus bite of irony—give rigor and, finally, an unexpected poignancy to an emotional, artistic, and political coming-of-age tale set in the 1970s—the decade, as she memorably puts it, when American youth realized that the changes that seemed possible in the 60s weren’t going to happen. A fascinating and ultimately wrenching book.” - Daniel Mendelsohn, author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million "Deeply felt and devastatingly confessional, this brave personal reckoning isn’t easy to forget.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Prose’s novels are . . . rollicking, flinty, teasing, fabulist yarns . . . . You close the book, and what lingers is the frictional plentitude, the radiant funk, of changing and being changed by other people . . . . Many Prose books deal with authorship feigned, manipulated, and stolen, and 1974 continues the theme . . . . she belonged in the driver’s seat, not sitting shotgun . . . . Russo lost a helpmeet, and literature gained a grande dame.” - 4Columns “To regard Francine Prose’s award-winning title list—she has written 23 works of fiction and nine nonfiction books—is to understand that some people really do know more, work longer, and write harder. Yet her first memoir,  1974: A Personal History , is imbued with an utter lack of self-importance. In 1974 , the self is a lens through which the light of the world can pour, as well as its darkness. Prose pairs her merciless scrutiny of that era’s misogyny, moral compromise and sexual liberation with a keen inquiry into her own motivations for dating the whistleblower Tony Russo.” - Electric Literature “Prose’s first memoir makes something dark and dizzying of a tumultuous decade.” - New York Magazine "Captivating . . . . With its fraught, late-night conversations about secrets and regret—most of which take place in a big American car hurtling down San Francisco’s rain-slicked streets— 1974: A Personal History often reads like a heady film noir set amid the ashes of ’60s idealism." - San Francisco Chronicle “Prose’s memoir of course reflects her own experience, but like all memoirs, it also offers a snapshot in time, in this case a tumultuous period in U.S. history. . . . Prose brings a sharp lens to her shortcomings. . . . This is among the many reasons Prose is widely admired