A Time of Change

The Cusp of Everything is a two-pronged metaphor. In the classic coming-of-age sense, it means turning 18, feeling like your real life is about to start. In this book, it also refers to the massive changes occurring during the 1970s: taboos lifted on premarital sex, birth control, abortion, divorce, homosexuality, interracial relationships. The 1970s are when the upheavals of the 1960s hit the mainstream and everything changed.