1980: It seems as if it were only yesterday

One of the obvious questions that Jess Walter has to answer about his new novel “Citizen Vince” is why did he choose to set it in 1980 . The following comes from an essay the Spokane writer crafted about the novel:

“I set the novel in 1980 because it was a pivot for the country, the moment we took a dramatic electoral shift – in this case, the end of the brief era of Watergate reform and the beginning of a conservative wave that, in 2004, was still peaking in American politics. I liked the contemporary resonance of the issues in that election, and the image of one voter’s place in that wave – whether it’s riding it or being swept away. I also liked the drastic and personal nature of the two main choices in that election: Jimmy Carter , smart and decent but seemingly ineffective; and Ronald Reagan , never mistaken as a genius, but clearly a more confident figure promising a return to American glory. These are the personal issues the characters face in ‘Citizen Vince’: the more difficult, often failed path of decency vs. the old unimpeachable principles of American right and might. In many ways, these are the same choices we faced in the most recent presidential election.”

And we all know which issues, thanks to the events of 9/11 , won out.