The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s

In the run-up to the 2016 election, Troy (Moynihan’s Moment), a history professor at McGill University, delivers a detailed report on the turbulent Clinton White House years, complete with an account of the Clintons’ personal and political triumphs and tragedies. Troy notes that to many, Bill and Hillary Clinton represented the baby boomer generation, having come of age during J.F.K.’s Camelot era, as well as the blended values of “Reaganite conservatism and Great Society liberalism.” Against the backdrop of the progressive 1990s, Troy describes the Clintons’ efforts to navigate celebrity, scandal, GOP attacks, and impeachment threats while railing against “a right-wing conspiracy.” Though the Clintons failed to meet some of their domestic goals, the redeemed “son of the New South” accomplished much in international politics, created a budget surplus, and survived a charge of “impeachable offenses” in Congress. This meticulous, year-by-year account spans the silver-tongued Arkansas politician’s Washington reign, but Troy also provides a series of flashbacks to George H.W. Bush’s administration, touching upon the first Gulf War, the beating of Rodney King, and Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court nomination. As ’90s nostalgia grows, Troy’s work reminds readers of the best and worst of the decade’s political culture. [em]Agent: Don Fehr, Trident Media Group. (Oct.) [/em]