When the Clock Broke

Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s

De: John Ganz

Narrado por: Eric Jason Martin

Duración: 15 h y 17 m

Resumen del Editor

"John Ganz is the most important young political writer of his generation—just the one our dark moment needs."—Rick Perlstein

"Lively and kaleidoscopic."—Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker

"John Ganz belongs to a species of public intellectual that is almost extinct . . . When the Clock Broke is the first of what I hope will be a shelf of books that help us uncover the true history of our times."—Jeet Heer

A lively, revelatory look back at the convulsions at the end of the Reagan era—and their dark legacy today.

With the Soviet Union extinct, Saddam Hussein defeated, and U.S. power at its zenith, the early 1990s promised a “kinder, gentler America.” Instead, it was a period of rising anger and domestic turmoil, anticipating the polarization and resurgent extremism we know today.

In When the Clock Broke, the acclaimed political writer John Ganz tells the story of America’s late-century discontents. Ranging from upheavals in Crown Heights and Los Angeles to the advent of David Duke and the heartland survivalists, the broadcasts of Rush Limbaugh, and the bitter disputes between neoconservatives and the “paleo-con” right, Ganz immerses us in a time when what Philip Roth called the “indigenous American berserk” took new and ever-wilder forms. In the 1992 campaign, Pat Buchanan's and Ross Perot’s insurgent populist bids upended the political establishment, all while Americans struggled through recession, alarm about racial and social change, the specter of a new power in Asia, and the end of Cold War–era political norms. Conspiracy theories surged, and intellectuals and activists strove to understand the “Middle American Radicals” whose alienation fueled new causes. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton appeared to forge a new, vital center, though it would not hold for long.

In a rollicking, eye-opening book, Ganz narrates the fall of the Reagan order and the rise of a new and more turbulent America.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2024 John Ganz (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Lucid and propulsive . . . [When the Clock Broke is] woven throughout with astute analysis of the period’s political commentary . . . Ganz's dry with is ever-present . . . This is a revelation."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"With his combination of immense erudition, independence of mind, clarity of expression, and honesty in reckoning with the terrifying weight of history, John Ganz belongs to a species of public intellectual that is almost extinct. To place him in his proper category, you have to rope in James Baldwin, Garry Wills, and Joan Didion. When the Clock Broke is the first of what I hope will be a shelf of books that help us uncover the true history of our times."—Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation

"When the Clock Broke locates the origins of our strange political age in the crack-up of conventional wisdom at the end of the Reagan era and the Cold War. Ganz's clock sounds the alarm on some of the most ominous and entrenched aspects of the American political condition. Unlike many observers these days, he also finds absurdity and humor in our national pageant. Sometimes we need to laugh as well as cry—Ganz's book helps us do both."—Beverly Gage, Gaddis Professor of History at Yale University and author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

A chilling prologue to 2024 election

Digs into the colorful (and unhinged) cast of politicians, extremists and mobsters that laid the groundwork for the America of today.

Amazing history of the early 90s

This is an important history of the early 1990s. For those of us millennials who remember that time period but were too young to have been engaged with the issues in a meaningful way (I was in elementary school during the relevant time period), this is a great resource. The author showed where many of the trends that we are encountering in 21st-century politics originated. I think this is an important primer to understand culture and politics in America. This is also a highly engaging and entertaining book.

The America of the 1990s had the same problems we have now, and refused to address them.

The country deserved better than what it got as the Cold War was winding down and ended. What made America a place of hope for working was traded away by our elite for a money making machine that only enriched a few. All the craziness and stupidity we see in our politics is the result of decisions made during the 1980s and early 1990s. Ganz demonstrates and explains this beautifully. Different choices then would have led too much better outcomes now.

Meh

A mashup of 80s-90s history and events meant to help explain our current sociopolitical predicament, but it feels mostly cherry picked as opposed to making a terribly compelling case.

Interesting stories but no overarching message

I was very disappointed in the book. It is not what it claims to be, and I learned very little from the disjointed stories. I do not recommend the book.