In his brilliant cultural history...Brownstein drops enough names to fill the once-massive Los Angeles phone book (remember those?), elicits memorable moments from several entertainment industries, and recalls political machinations across decades ... Rock Me on the Water segues seamlessly between movies, music, and television, often adding politics to the mix ... Brownstein’s coverage of the second half of 1974 sometimes repeats information about people and events, as might be expected in such a dense, lengthy study, but he also underscores 'new faces, new voices, and new stories' on the ever-changing horizon.

These are not new stories, of course — the brief window of early-1970s creative filmmaking, the Laurel Canyon music scene, the golden era of television. All have been relentlessly examined, artifacts of a once-mighty baby boomer civilization. What Brownstein has done is expertly knit the scenes together, giving the reader a plus-one invite to the heady world of Hollywood parties, jam sessions and pitch meetings, as well as a pointed demonstration of how culture can be made and unmade. By the time we approach the end of that fascinating year, it’s clear that the creative frenzy is about to come to a screeching halt ... Brownstein is at his most convincing when describing the film and TV worlds, which produced the most radical assault on mainstream culture ... It’s unfortunate that Brownstein spends so little time exploring the Black film and music worlds. They’re discussed in just one chapter, into which he also stuffs the exclusion of women in Hollywood. Brownstein’s lens is focused squarely on what white men had to say in film, television and music, making the book itself a demonstration of that same problem. Even the stories of discrimination that the successful producers Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Julia Phillips faced feel like detours off the main freeway ... Perhaps the most salient lesson of Brownstein’s engrossing book is that surely as day follows night, America devours its most provocative cultural expression and spits it back up, polished and unthreatening.

A sweeping account ... Brimming with nicely woven stories, gossip, and insights, Brownstein’s book recounts month-by-month the cultural upheavals of the year ... Some of the author’s stories will be familiar to many readers. But he has interviewed artists like Linda Ronstadt, Warren Beatty, and others in depth, and explores the backstories of songs, TV shows, and movies in ways that recreate the energy and excitement of the era ... the author has crafted an unusually readable story of how Los Angeles once ruled popular culture. His book will conjure a welcome blast from the past for many readers. For others, it will be a bright introduction to the year when flower power burst into the wider American cultural life.

The challenge of capturing such an idyllic moment in print is intertwining so many stories while keeping each one clear and engaging. Brownstein manages this deftly. While initial chapters focus on one particular form of entertainment and center on the story of one or two artists, films or shows, later sections seamlessly blend various artistic and business endeavors along with politics. The conceit of covering 1974 month by month is the only contrivance that feels a bit forced ... More than just summarizing or reviewing what such films and shows were about, the author dives deep into how they were created, financed, promoted and received. His many interviews with actors, writers, directors and executives of that era lend such renderings veracity and energy ... Brownstein also covers music well, though many critics, particularly those with an East Coast bias, might quibble about the greatness of the three acts he profiles in the most depth ... This is a book out to capture the moment when LA became America’s pop culture crucible, briefly eclipsing New York City before punk rock brought the Big Apple roaring back to preeminence. Brownstein gives LA and the moment a gauzy glow, capturing it best in the words of those who lived there at this apex ... lets readers swim in those heady, deeply creative seas.

Mr. Brownstein makes all this cultural history memorable by telling much of his story through profiles of figures like Jack Nicholson, Norman Lear, George Lucas, Ms. Ronstadt and Mr. Browne, and the Eagles’ Don Henley and Glenn Frey ... With a book so rich in detail, it may be ungrateful to point out what isn’t there. Mr. Brownstein overlooks musicians like Harry Nilsson, Lori Lieberman and Patti Dahlstrom. There was also a lively comedy scene that was jump-started in 1972 when Johnny Carson moved The Tonight Show to Burbank and Mitzi Shore opened the Comedy Store, where a new brand of humor developed, more freewheeling and less neurotic than its East Coast counterpart.

There’s a uniquely American thread winding through the pages of Ronald Brownstein’s excellent new social history ... Brownstein’s at his best in the film and music sections of the book. This might be because he speaks to performers like Ronstadt and Browne extensively throughout the music chapters, while in the TV section, he spends most of his time with writers and directors. Each gives their own interesting insights, but personally, I’d have liked to hear more from the actors. But this is a minor quibble because the TV sections are, in fact, very interesting ... Brownstein does a nice job reminding us how influential the Left Coast has been on American politics and social beliefs ... Rock Me on the Water makes me wish I could hop in a Tardis and travel back in time just to hang around all those groovy people doing all those groovy things.

Brownstein adopts a month-by-month approach to telling the story. Although appealing as a narrative device, doing so makes it more difficult to analyze the categories and draw connections between them. He is less engaged in offering close readings of any of the films, shows or songs than in the personalities who made and promoted the work. What lifts the book out of familiar terrain...are the interviews with actors, singers, writers, producers and executives who reflect on the creative urgency of the ’70s ... Brownstein’s profiles of the producers and writers behind the scenes are one of the book’s strengths ... The book will have done its work if it inspires readers to revisit these films, shows and songs.

You might imagine that a book focused primarily on the pop-culture scene in 1974 Los Angeles might be limited in scope. But Rock Me on the Water has the opposite problem. Author Ronald Brownstein...attempts to tackle music, film, TV and politics, only skimming the surface of each medium. A lot of the narrative seems to depend on Brownstein's personal tastes and who would answer his calls. His choices are good news for fans of Jackson Browne's early work, All in the Family and Shampoo. Other milestones from the period...get shorted. Brownstein writes in a chatty tone perfect for younger readers who think of 1974 as the prehistoric age. But those hungry for a more substantial nostalgia trip would be better off focusing on books and films that don't try to serve so many masters.