the lyyon family, the up and coming family. basically the murdoch children. tell us about that role? the son of sam is happening and there s an opportunity for tabloids to rise. and circulation, especially newsstand sales, rose dramatically. because the new york times was treating like a local crime story and not talking about the fact there was a serial killer in the outer boroughs killing people. this was an opportunity for real life rupert murdoch to take the united states into a place of prominence. and max llyon, this fictitious
including by jimmy carter. the rise of cults. the new york city blackout. the son of sam murders. an entire city gripped by this serial killer. the rises of tabloid journalism, evel knievel, the death of elvis. it really was this insane time in this nation s history. it was fun to write about, fun to dive back into. in the may, 1977, almost becomes a character in the book. a book written called the 70s what we think about the 60s really happened in the 70s, the kind of sex, drugs and rock n roll, the incredible culture, the new movies, that s all the 70s. so it was a rich period for you to set it in. did you feel like you were were you able to try to capture the essence of the 70s or just use it as a backdrop? no, i tried to capture the
it s the third of the politician charlie martin and his family and hair raisers in washington, d.c. in decades past. and jake is with us right now. so, jake, this book, i ve got it right here, it s set in the 1970s which turns out was a pretty crazy and historic year in america. among some big events, jimmy carter was inaugurated. elvis dies, the son of sam murders happened and the release of star wars hit the movie theaters. but your character reacts to a lot of these events and they meet a lot of real life people. you must have, a, spent a lot of time doing the research and had a lot of fun doing the research? it was a ton of fun. 1977. the whole 70s are kind of underrated when it comes to how insane they were. 1977 in particular, you just noted some of the things. in addition, we have americans seeing ufos all over the country. there s a rise in participation in cults, there s obviously evel
knievel the prominent stuntman. and the rise not only of son of sam serial killer, but the rise of journalism in the united states. it was a temporarily exciting period to dive into and mine for dramatic effect. the opening of studio 54, the celebrity discotheque. the new york city blackout. i mean, so many things just in this one year. it was so much fun. yeah, pretty crazy actually, i was well, i was not around for the 70s but it taught me a lot, actually. about what went on during that ti time. one of the most interesting things about this book is evel knievel is basically a character in the book. and the idea for him running for president makes an appearance. and you make a connection to the present day that might surprise a lot of people. i highlighted this in my book, you wrote here about evel knievel. he held up a mirror revealing
period you kind of you grew up in. you re younger than me, you were very young, but what struck you about the 70s as different from, you know, from your kind of pre-judgments about it. so i was 8 in 1977 when the book takes place and i don t remember the 7 0s all that fond low and the era itself i remember for gas lines and disco, and the death of elvis. that was pretty much it, everything else was just my little world of childhood, going back and realizing what an insane and wild era it was was actually really interesting, fascinating, even because i lived through it, but didn t realize all of the things that were going on. all of the rash of ufo sightings including by jimmy carter, the rise of cults. the new york city blackout. the son of sam murders, an