The Nineties

A Book

By: Chuck Klosterman

Narrated by: Chuck Klosterman, Dion Graham

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

An instant New York Times best seller!

From the best-selling author of But What if We’re Wrong, a wise and funny reckoning with the decade that gave us slacker/grunge irony about the sin of trying too hard, during the greatest shift in human consciousness of any decade in American history.

It was long ago, but not as long as it seems: The Berlin Wall fell and the Twin Towers collapsed. In between, one presidential election was allegedly decided by Ross Perot while another was plausibly decided by Ralph Nader. In the beginning, almost every name and address was listed in a phone book, and everyone answered their landlines because you didn’t know who it was. By the end, exposing someone’s address was an act of emotional violence, and nobody picked up their new cell phone if they didn’t know who it was. The '90s brought about a revolution in the human condition we’re still groping to understand. Happily, Chuck Klosterman is more than up to the job.

Beyond epiphenomena like "Cop Killer" and Titanic and Zima, there were wholesale shifts in how society was perceived: the rise of the internet, pre-9/11 politics, and the paradoxical belief that nothing was more humiliating than trying too hard. Pop culture accelerated without the aid of a machine that remembered everything, generating an odd comfort in never being certain about anything. On a '90s Thursday night, more people watched any random episode of Seinfeld than the finale of Game of Thrones. But nobody thought that was important; if you missed it, you simply missed it. It was the last era that held to the idea of a true, hegemonic mainstream before it all began to fracture, whether you found a home in it or defined yourself against it.

In The Nineties, Chuck Klosterman makes a home in all of it: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, the changes regarding race and class and sexuality, the yin/yang of Oprah and Alan Greenspan. In perhaps no other book ever written would a sentence like, “The video for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was not more consequential than the reunification of Germany” make complete sense. Chuck Klosterman has written a multi-dimensional masterpiece, a work of synthesis so smart and delightful that future historians might well refer to this entire period as Klostermanian.

©2022 Chuck Klosterman (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“In The Nineties, Klosterman examines the social, political and cultural history of the era with his signature wit. It’s a fascinating trip down memory lane.” —Time

“Always an astute cultural observer and a fan of deep dives into any subject, Klosterman is focused here on a decade in American life that he says is often portrayed as ‘a low-risk grunge cartoon’ . . . Klosterman’s gift is seizing on those moments that any Gen Xer can readily recall and pulling the strings a bit to put it in some kind of historical perspective.” —Associated Press

“Serving up the moments and meanings of a modern decade in a few hundred pages is no easy task, but Chuck Klosterman has managed to boil a hearty stew of insight. . . . [Klosterman is] a master of smooth setups and downbeat finishes.” —USA Today

Great fun overall

Felt like I'm experiencing my childhood once again but with a grown up perspective

not what I expected but enjoyable

I knew of Chuck Klosterman from his short essays like sex drugs and Cocoa Puffs. when I started the book it wasn't what I expected and I initially didn't think I would like it. by the end though I really enjoyed it and I think he did a good job of connecting Trends in the 90s to things that are still going on today. I was afraid it was going to be overly heavy on the Nostalgia which I'm not a big fan of but instead I think it was a critical analysis of a decade and the implications for the future

Easy read and good nostalgia

Enjoyed the book. Took awhile to get used to the narrator but the content is great.

Masterpiece

Can’t say enough good things about this book. A beautiful examination of the importance of the nineties.

Work of art

This book isn’t just a retelling of the past, it takes you back to the time and mindset of the 90’s.

Chuck is So Good

Everything he touches is fantastic. I really enjoyed this one, even moreso than the books that made him famous

Fun listen

Good vacation read. Would recommend
Even if you find one part boring, you can just skip to the next one.

5 Stars

The Book Chuck was born to write! Good to hear him narrate it too.

Nostalgic and Eye Opening

Some chapters are more interesting than others but that might be my own personal bias towards my own memories. Nevertheless it captures the 90s well and presents some great facts and analyses.

Chuck is the premiere commentator of our times.

This book is essential if you came of age in the 1990s, or just need a deep dive on all the way points.