This fine volume in the "New American Nation Series" explores the connections of culture and politics in a traumatic decade. Mr. Matusow deals extensively with the war on poverty, civil rights, the rise of the new left, and black power. He attributes the rout of traditional liberal assumptions and political power at the end of the decade to the Vietnam War, a white backlash, and disillusionment with unrealistic expectations. Another volume in the series (by Kenneth Thompson and Norman Graebner) will concentrate on the Vietnam War.