What was it really like to grow up in America during the early nineteen seventies?

In this powerful episode of History Told Forward, author and podcast creator Laura Van Wormer takes us back to a world before cell phones, before seatbelts, before the internet—when kids roamed free, parents trusted streetlights, and the nation wrestled with Vietnam, Watergate, and cultural upheaval.

Laura is the creator of The Class of ’74, a serialized audio drama set in a Connecticut suburb between nineteen seventy-one and nineteen seventy-four. Drawing from her own lived experience and decades as a bestselling novelist and former Doubleday editor, she recreates a time when music, protest, war, and coming-of-age collided.

We explore:

1. How post–World War Two America created the suburbs
2. Why nearly every father wore the same “uniform” to work
3. The shadow Vietnam cast over an entire generation
4. How music, movies, and teenage rebellion shaped identity
5. Why young listeners today are discovering this era to understand their parents
6. The surprising global reach of Laura’s podcast

This is more than nostalgia. It’s a living time capsule—and a reminder that storytelling preserves the soul of history.

All links referenced in this episode:

1. The Class of ’74 Podcast (available on all platforms):
2. Apple Podcasts
3. Spotify
4. Pandora
5. YouTube
6. Podbean

(Search “The Class of ’74” on your favorite podcast platform.)

1. Doubleday
2. IBM
3. Apple Podcasts
4. Spotify
5. Pandora
6. YouTube
7. Veteran Voice Radio
8. Semper Fi Country
9. Ranger Rockwave
10. Planned Parenthood
11. The Veterans Administration (VA)

Mentioned in this episode:

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