false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171458557m/99988.jpg 99988 3 In <I>The Best of Times</I>, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Haynes Johnson follows his illuminating, bestselling overview of the Reagan years, <I>Sleepwalking Through History</I>, with a chronicle of America in the '90s, a time he finds both highly consequential and infuriatingly paradoxical. <p> Johnson divides his ambitious social history of an America at its "zenith" of power and influence into four intertwined sections. "Technotimes" opens with the Kasparov/Big Blue chess match, and quicksteps through the dizzying advances in computer science and bio-technology, including the Human Genome Project, cloning, and genetically modified crops. "Teletimes," easily the strongest and most disturbing section, uses the "scandalous spectacle" of the O.J. Simpson trial to illustrate the inescapable influence of the mass media and the metastasizing cult of celebrity. "Scandal Times" is primarily an extended retelling of the Monica Lewinsky affair and its squandering (in Johnson's eyes) effect on the Clinton presidency, while "Millennial Times," calling on polls and interviews with a crosscut of college students, is a statistical and personal- opinion snapshot of America in full end-of-century stride. Johnson juxtaposes narrative summary with capsule biographies of the famous (Bill Gates) and the obscure (Vannevar Bush and J.C.R. Licklider--visionaries of hypertext, the World Wide Web, and the Internet). Johnson's methodology is commendable. He inserts personal biases lightly (sometimes too tepidly), preferring to present many sides of issues and ask questions rather than opine. One serious weakness is the book's woefully inadequate endnotes. <p> Though <I>The Best of Times</I> has a tendency to overreach, sometimes scurrying past subjects rather than studying them, it is an informative, worthy, and accessible summary of contemporary American society. Johnson has created a literate time capsule, one whose value will increase greatly with each passing year. <I>--H. O'Billovitch</I> 951519 2001 The Best of Times: The Boom and Bust Years of America before and after Everything Changed total:20|5:2|4:6|3:9|2:2|1:1| 20 66 37 1 4 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 16:07:30 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 16:11:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Sep 13 11:03:16 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 11:03:18 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 08:25:32 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 08:25:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Aug 08 16:19:42 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 16:19:42 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 19 16:16:44 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 16:16:44 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jul 09 18:39:40 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 18:39:40 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Jun 28 14:44:49 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 14:44:49 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri May 08 12:14:18 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 12:14:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Apr 22 11:16:13 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 11:16:13 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Apr 09 19:30:50 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 19:30:56 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Sun Feb 15 22:04:49 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 22:04:58 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jan 24 08:43:20 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 08:43:20 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jan 23 10:40:20 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 10:40:20 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 15 12:45:34 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 12:45:34 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sat Sep 06 14:46:16 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 06 14:46:16 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Wed Sep 03 18:57:17 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 03 18:57:23 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Wed Aug 13 21:04:02 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 21:04:02 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Aug 09 19:51:37 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 09 19:51:49 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Sat Jul 26 20:28:06 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 20:28:06 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Jul 26 18:30:39 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 25 19:09:43 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=99988