The Nineties

June 1, 2022

The 1990s nostalgia is upon us, and pop culture raconteur Klosterman is the ideal author to take on the decade, from music and movies to sports and politics. Each chapter mixes facts, reminiscences, and analysis to create an overview of the highs and lows of the decade. There's plenty of attention paid to iconic events and people of the time, but Klosterman's knowledge of the obscure is consistently entertaining. He shifts effortlessly between topics--one chapter begins with The Matrix and Keanu Reeves's 1990s career, then turns to the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the O. J. Simpson trial, and the Columbine massacre, then back to The Matrix and the ways television defined reality during the era. Klosterman narrates the majority of the book, and while he's not a professional narrator, his enthusiasm for the subject matter, combined with his upper-Midwestern accent, draws listeners in. His occasional mimicry of famous voices (1992 presidential candidate Ross Perot, former president Bill Clinton) is endearingly clumsy. Co-narrator Dion Graham reads the chapter titles and selected footnotes. His smooth, measured narration contrasts well with Klosterman's excitable style. VERDICTA must-listen for Klosterman's many fans, nostalgic Gen-Xers, and those interested in the many ways the 1990s shaped how we live now.--Nanette Donohue

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 25, 2021
Pop culture critic and essayist Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs) turns his flinty eye to the 1990s, “the last period in American history when personal and political engagement was still viewed as optional.” Blending cultural analysis with his own caustic hot takes, Klosterman claims that the chief characteristic of the ’90s was a pervasive feeling of ambivalence, “defined by an overwhelming assumption that life... was underwhelming” (his writing has a similarly detached tone). He views how this societal apathy coursed through the decade’s indie films, such as Larry Clark’s 1995 cult hit Kids (its theme: “there was no meaning to anything, ever”), and was embodied by Nirvana’s Nevermind, the ideal soundtrack for, as Kurt Cobain put it, “a completely exhausted Rock youth Culture.” But at the same time, Klosterman counters, the decade gave rise to art that tackled timely issues including the AIDs epidemic—with Rent debuting on Broadway in 1994—and brought queer stories to TV via such shows as NBC’s Will & Grace. “The world, as always, was changing,” he writes, citing how the decade saw a shift in everything from politics and awareness around race to the explosive growth of the internet and celebrity culture—a preview, he writes, of what was to come in subsequent decades. This nostalgic look at the waning days of offline culture both piques and entertains.