Writer Chris Carlsson's latest work is his edited collection of historical essays called “Ten Years That Shook The City: San Francisco 1968-1978.” Written by notable figures including Carlsson, the essays explore the extension of the 1960s movement into the ’70s.

How did this book come about? I had the idea of the book and the range of concepts, and then I went around finding authors.

Why those 10 years? It was conveniently bookended by two major well-known historic events in San Francisco.

Is there a misconception out there that there was a great movement in the ’60s, and when the ’70s came around everything stopped? That is definitely one of the reasons why we picked that decade. There is this common meme in our culture, which has been promoted by the right, as the ’60s is sort of over and it’s just dismissed with the back of the hand. The ’70s is really the culmination and the extension of the impulses that first emerged in the ’60s.

Do you have any favorite essays? My favorite essay is Jason Ferreira’s. He does such a brilliant job of taking this sort of social explosion that took place amongst many different ethnic communities of San Francisco and shows how it wasn’t this idea that we now have of identity politics.

What do you want a reader to come away with? There are two things: Appreciate a way of doing history. ... And to really appreciate that there is not this break in history.

jsabatini@sfexaminer.com