Posted on 09/11/2005 6:04:38 PM PDT by RWR8189
FOUR YEARS LATER, few doubt that 9/11 ushered in a new epoch. What's less obvious is that that day also marked the end of an era. For Sept. 11, 2001, was the last day of the 1990s.
Of course that's not literally, chronologically true. But just as the great British historian Eric Hobsbawm wrote a history of the 19th century, which, he decided, started in 1789 and ended in 1914, so we can look back on the 1990s and see that they too were not an exact match with the dates on the calendar.
That was not obvious at the time. But now it's possible to speak of the 1990s as an era of sharp definition, the way we recall the greedy '80s or the swinging '60s (which you might say began with the Kennedy assassination in 1963 and ended along with the Vietnam War in the mid-'70s). They were the no-worry '90s.
Viewed from here, the 1990s were a kind of vacation, a pause between two eras of anxiety and conflict. They began on Dec. 8, 1991, with the fall of the Soviet Union and ended on Sept. 11, 2001, with the fall of the twin towers.
Before the '90s, the world was consumed by the Cold War. Since the end of the '90s, we have been haunted by fear of a "clash of civilizations." A standoff between East and West before — as the West battled global communism — and a standoff between East and West after, as the West faces global jihadism.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
...while trolling for blow jobs in the oval office...
You're absolutely right!
The 1990s was the time when the occupant of the White House used his position to chase skirts rather than protect America.
ping (for the usual reason)
I would argue that the 19th Century - the European century - ended in 1898, when the American Century began with the Spanish American War.
Clinton and LORAL handing over rocket technology to China.
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