When the clock broke : con men, conspiracists, and how America cracked up in the early 1990s Cover Image

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When the clock broke : con men, conspiracists, and how America cracked up in the early 1990s / John Ganz.

Ganz, John, 1985- (author.).

Summary:

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.

Record details

ISBN: 9780374605445
ISBN: 0374605440
Physical Description: 420 pages ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024.
Copyright: ©2024

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-400) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Introduction: The end -- Swamp creature -- Winter of discontent -- Chaos and old night -- The voice of America -- Little Caesar -- Rage -- The thin blue line -- Keeping America American -- "We're at war" -- "Buying the country back" -- The howling wilderness -- The mosaic -- "... the economy, stupid".