High Tide in Tucson is presented as a timeless reflection on human nature and change, but it is ultimately strongly tied to the 1990s, when most of the essays were written. This is particularly true in the politically focused essays. Kingsolver was an anti-Gulf War activist, and her disillusionment about the conflict was so deeply felt that she moved to the Canary Islands for a year to escape the political climate of the United States.

The book is firmly cemented in the post-Soviet era as well, which is especially apparent in the essay about nuclear conflict. As the Cold War slowly comes to a close, Kingsolver is uneasy about future relations between the United States, Russia, and whatever new “enemies” may arise. These passages appear quite prescient in the 2020s, as conflict in the Middle East has continued and Russia has never quite stopped being a US antagonist.

Social changes that took place from the 1960s to the 1990s also become a prominent topic. Growing up in the midcentury forms an important context for Kingsolver’s views on changing family values, raising children, and the place of women in society. Kingsolver lives a very different life than her mother, even though they are both educated people, largely due to increased options for women from Kingsolver’s childhood to when she had a child of her own.