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1995: The Year the Future Began
A hinge moment in recent American history, 1995 was an exceptional year. Drawing on interviews, oral histories, memoirs, archival collections, and news reports, W. Joseph Campbell presents a vivid, detail-rich portrait of those memorable twelve months. This book offers fresh interpretations of the decisive moments of 1995, including the emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web in mainstream American life; the bombing at Oklahoma City, the deadliest attack of domestic terrorism in U.S. history; the sensational “Trial of the Century,” at which O.J. Simpson faced charges of double murder; the U.S.-brokered negotiations at Dayton, Ohio, which ended the Bosnian War, Europe’s most vicious conflict since the Nazi era; and the first encounters at the White House between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a liaison that culminated in a stunning scandal and the spectacle of the president’s impeachment and trial. As Campbell demonstrates in this absorbing chronicle, 1995 was a year of extraordinary events, a watershed at the turn of the millennium. The effects of that pivotal year reverberate still, marking the close of one century and the dawning of another.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published September 28, 2014
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347 people want to read
About the author
W. Joseph Campbell
12 books5 followersW. Joseph Campbell is an American writer, historian, media critic, and blogger who is the author of six other books, including the award-winning Getting It Wrong: Debunking the Greatest Myths in American Journalism.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 20, 2017
Apparently in 1995 when I was 21 years old I was mostly paying attention to the little bubble of my college life, so while I remember all of the major events covered in this book I certainly didn't grasp all of the details at the time. Interesting and informative, but came up a bit shy of definitively justifying the subtitle. A lot of things happened in 1995 that continue to resonate today, but they didn't have much to do with each other, historically or thematically. You could probably make broadly similar cases for watershed events in various other years over the past few decades, too.
July 7, 2022
Interesting to look back at some of the most well known news stories and technologies of 1995. The focus is very American except for a chapter about Bosnia and a brief reference to the Queen and the Quebec Referendum in the opening chapter. The author doesn't really prove his thesis that 1995 was when the future began as the internet didn't become a part of most people's everyday lives until a few years later. More of a retrospective of key news stories of 1995 than an analysis of the significance of that year.
May 28, 2015
1995: The Year the Future Began describes five watershed events from that year and their effect on modern times: the internet going mainstream; the Oklahoma City bombing; the Bosnian War negotiations in Dayton, OH; the OJ Simpson trial; and Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. These events certainly did have lasting repercussions, but I felt like you could pick five events from most years and make a similar argument. The primary interest for me was the fact that in 1995 I was 12. I remember these things happening, but my understanding of them was very limited. For example, the main thing I remember about the OJ trial was my brother being upset because it preempted Power Rangers. It was unexpectedly satisfying to finally get a full, adult story behind these half-remembered events.
May 25, 2019
I am a fan of books that take a moment in time — a month or often a calendar year— and draw out the deeper meanings and consequences of the period. Books such as Jay Winik’s “April 1865”, Bill Bryson’s “One Summer, America 1927”, or Christian Caryl’s “Strange Rebels:1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century” are all excellent examples of this sub-genre. So I picked up W. Joseph Campbell’s book on 1995 with great interest. The book looks at 1995 through five lenses—the extraordinary expansion of the internet and its related dot.com enterprises; the horrific bombing in Oklahoma City and concerns over terrorism; the Dayton Peace Accord and its implication for American diplomacy; the O.J.Simpson “ trial of the century”; and, finally, the tawdry tale of Bill and Monica and their Oval Office antics. Each event is well-researched and ably written. But at the end of the day, except for the chapter on the Internet, I was not convinced that these events were “ where the future began”. While the Oklahoma bombing was tragic in the number of victims, there have been many lone wolf incidents of violence before this one in American history. American diplomacy has often tried to project its image of exceptional achievement, but more often than not it has misread situations in other parts of the world. There are many candidates for “ trial of the century”, from the Lindbergh kidnapping to the Rosenbergs to Sacco and Vanzetti and beyond. And the sorry tale of Bill and Monica is more pathetic than anything else. So Campbell failed to convince me of his main thesis, but I enjoyed the book all the same. Except for one aspect: how can a book 274 pages long include almost 100 pages of footnotes?
January 21, 2023
This is great look at some of the most important events of a watershed year.
Unlike many year books I've read, this one just picks out a few main events - five - and builds around them. It also skips the music, movies, sports and other diversions.
The five events are the growth of the internet (with the debut of Netscape Navigator, wikis and Amazon), the O.J. Simpson trial (and the mainstream of DNA evidence), the negotiations ending the Bosnia war (and the reassertion of American foreign relations), the Oklahoma City bombing (and the tightening of security all over the country), and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky mess (and the deeper political division of America).
This book was published in 2015, so some of its assertions have been superseded - in particular the feeling that race relations were improving. But the political and security parts were and are still relevant now.
As an account of a key year and the long-reaching aftereffects, this short book hits the mark.
Unlike many year books I've read, this one just picks out a few main events - five - and builds around them. It also skips the music, movies, sports and other diversions.
The five events are the growth of the internet (with the debut of Netscape Navigator, wikis and Amazon), the O.J. Simpson trial (and the mainstream of DNA evidence), the negotiations ending the Bosnia war (and the reassertion of American foreign relations), the Oklahoma City bombing (and the tightening of security all over the country), and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky mess (and the deeper political division of America).
This book was published in 2015, so some of its assertions have been superseded - in particular the feeling that race relations were improving. But the political and security parts were and are still relevant now.
As an account of a key year and the long-reaching aftereffects, this short book hits the mark.
January 9, 2020
Once upon a time, there was no internet. There was no email. How could this be called civilization at all? Well! This is a fair question, particularly as former sports heroes and rental car representatives sped away from crime scenes. The nation stood rapt, divided.
The widespread adoption of electronic communications which had been in use for decades began a new phase of human history. Read about it here, use your imagination to consider what the dark ages that preceded 1995 were like, and enjoy.
The widespread adoption of electronic communications which had been in use for decades began a new phase of human history. Read about it here, use your imagination to consider what the dark ages that preceded 1995 were like, and enjoy.
August 3, 2018
Mildly amusing. A newspaperman has discovered a conspiracy. And he is ready to share it with the world. Nice to see the conspiracy mind unfolding. Still, one needs a very shallow mind to produce such a work. Yea, sure, O.J. Simpson. Yet the drums of DNA were beating quite loud in the 1980s as well. And so is the rest. The poor guy can't see the iceberg because of the shinny pointy tip.
January 31, 2021
A good overview of a year, but the thesis of it being an extra special year fell flat. A highlight was the near daily event timeline at the end of the book.
Co-opting a long salacious overview of Bill Clinton's sex life seemed unnecessary. It was an important event and should be mentioned, but devoting one of only five chapters to descriptions in great detail seemed like too much.
Co-opting a long salacious overview of Bill Clinton's sex life seemed unnecessary. It was an important event and should be mentioned, but devoting one of only five chapters to descriptions in great detail seemed like too much.
January 5, 2021
Not bad. Doesn't really deliver on the promise of the title, but the book was light and engaging. I used it as a palate cleanser between deeper books, and it performed that job admirably.
February 9, 2017
[3.5]
I was fascinated by the premise this book of United States history as soon as it came through the library a few months ago, and added it to my reading list. What a provocative title, “1995: The Year the Future Began,” especially for a child of the ‘90s like myself. I’ve always been really interested in these accounts of the historical importance of a single year in world history, 1973 Nervous Breakdown, The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, etc. and this was also the first work of serious history I saw tackling my own childhood. What, we can write history books about that far flung historical period, the 1990s now? Awesome!
Coincidentally, before reading this book, I’d been listening to all of the back episodes of This American Life, the Public Radio show that also began in 1995, and was shocked by not only how much things have changed since that year, but also how much things have remained the same. Here, the author argues that the year 1995, the year I turned 13 and started 7th grade, was a major turning point in American history that marked a boundary between the 20th century and the 21st century historical mindsets. In this, he is somewhat, if not entirely, successful. Discussing 1995 in great detail as the year the internet exploded from an obscure niche, a year of terrorism and American intervention abroad, of social and political scandal, he argues that this confluence of events occurring in this one year had a transformative effect upon American society. Even before the starker dividing lines such as the 2000 Election and 9/11, Campbell argues that in many ways these impulses were already set up by 1995. I do recall using the internet for the first time that year, and I definitely have memories of the O.J. Simpson trials and the Oklahoma City Bombing.
In spite of the rather exhaustive documentation of these nostalgic events, though, some seemed more relevant than others, and ties to the contemporary world, while there, a rather loose I felt. The internet, for instance, was only at the dawn of its relevance of the time, and had little effect on the growing political polarization exemplified by the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. It may not have been “the year the Future began”, but there was a still a lot of interesting, thought provoking information about things I can remember dimly, but which I didn’t have much actual knowledge of. I’m curious to see other takes on the history of the 1990s in coming years.
I was fascinated by the premise this book of United States history as soon as it came through the library a few months ago, and added it to my reading list. What a provocative title, “1995: The Year the Future Began,” especially for a child of the ‘90s like myself. I’ve always been really interested in these accounts of the historical importance of a single year in world history, 1973 Nervous Breakdown, The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, etc. and this was also the first work of serious history I saw tackling my own childhood. What, we can write history books about that far flung historical period, the 1990s now? Awesome!
Coincidentally, before reading this book, I’d been listening to all of the back episodes of This American Life, the Public Radio show that also began in 1995, and was shocked by not only how much things have changed since that year, but also how much things have remained the same. Here, the author argues that the year 1995, the year I turned 13 and started 7th grade, was a major turning point in American history that marked a boundary between the 20th century and the 21st century historical mindsets. In this, he is somewhat, if not entirely, successful. Discussing 1995 in great detail as the year the internet exploded from an obscure niche, a year of terrorism and American intervention abroad, of social and political scandal, he argues that this confluence of events occurring in this one year had a transformative effect upon American society. Even before the starker dividing lines such as the 2000 Election and 9/11, Campbell argues that in many ways these impulses were already set up by 1995. I do recall using the internet for the first time that year, and I definitely have memories of the O.J. Simpson trials and the Oklahoma City Bombing.
In spite of the rather exhaustive documentation of these nostalgic events, though, some seemed more relevant than others, and ties to the contemporary world, while there, a rather loose I felt. The internet, for instance, was only at the dawn of its relevance of the time, and had little effect on the growing political polarization exemplified by the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. It may not have been “the year the Future began”, but there was a still a lot of interesting, thought provoking information about things I can remember dimly, but which I didn’t have much actual knowledge of. I’m curious to see other takes on the history of the 1990s in coming years.
March 19, 2015
Writing a book about a specific year that is only 20 years in the past and declaring it to be "the year the future began" is a bit arrogant. Having lived through the year that the book describes - it being my first year out of college - I have many different memories of 1995 than are described in the book. The only chapter that seems to stay on task is the one about the Oklahoma City Murrah building bombing. The chapter on the internet meanders all over the place and clearly is written as a "catch-all" for a number of interesting though somewhat minor occurrences associated with the Netscape browser. The chapter on former President Clinton shows a clear conservative bent in describing issues that no politician should be impeached over. Furthermore that chapter has about 2 sentences pointing out the folly of Kenneth Starr's'investigation - the one that wasn't turning up any information on the case it was originally started for so he was allowed to just keep "expanding" his search. In addition, the author realizing that his original premise for the Clinton chapter is not going to garner enough information to justify his thesis, he then expands it by reiterating a bunch of useless information regarding the Clinton presidency, it's alleged consequences, and other discussion to frame the issue he's writing about, turning the chapter into a muddled disaster. Not worth recommending as one can find better, more concise information about everything discussed in this book in a number of other sources - starting at your local library.
February 26, 2015
"The emergence of the Internet, the deadliest act of homegrown terrorism on U.S. soil, the 'Trial of the Century,' the muscular diplomacy of the United States, and the origins of a sex scandal at the highest levels of American government were significant events in 1995 ... They were profound in their respective ways, and, taken together, they define a watershed year at the cusp of the millennium." (2)
"The 'Trial of the Century' exerted little lasting impact on American jurisprudence and legal doctrine. Instead, the trial's most significant contributions were to forensic DNA analysis, to introduce the promise and benefits of genetic evidence to mainstream American culture." (97)
"The shutdown had temporarily trimmed the number of full-time employees in the White House executive office to about 90 from 430. Into that gap stepped a cadre of young interns who, given their unpaid status, suddenly found themselves working closely and quite unexpectedly with some of the most senior officials in the administration. Among them was Monica S. Lewinsky ..." (135-6)
"The 'Trial of the Century' exerted little lasting impact on American jurisprudence and legal doctrine. Instead, the trial's most significant contributions were to forensic DNA analysis, to introduce the promise and benefits of genetic evidence to mainstream American culture." (97)
"The shutdown had temporarily trimmed the number of full-time employees in the White House executive office to about 90 from 430. Into that gap stepped a cadre of young interns who, given their unpaid status, suddenly found themselves working closely and quite unexpectedly with some of the most senior officials in the administration. Among them was Monica S. Lewinsky ..." (135-6)
November 12, 2015
1995: The Year the Future Began is an interesting look back at 1995, a very eventful year in history. This is an engaging and fascinating look back at the politics, society, and culture of the time. Chapter topics include: The rise of the Internet, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Dayton talks, and, who could forget: Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. What a year. Those of us who lived it will remember it; those who weren't born yet/were too young to be aware can get an idea of what they missed. I love that the author wrote an entire book on this one year, which really was an incredible and "watershed" time, and points out that as time passes we see that more and more. Recommended!
April 2, 2015
I stopped reading it barely a page in because of passages like this:
"The magnitude of some watershed years is immediately obvious, becoming clear before the year has closed that it was extraordinary and memorable."
And that's just in the preface. Sentence structure this clunky would get (and, in my case, *was*) torn to shreds in Freshman composition class; it only got worse, from one page to the next.
I'm not expecting works of this nature to read like Flaubert in translation. But no matter how much I'm drawn to the subject matter, the writing (at the sentence level) cannot be completely phoned in. Otherwise, it just becomes unreadable.
I'm debating whether to return it, or to keep it as a desk reference for how not to compose a piece of non-fiction.
"The magnitude of some watershed years is immediately obvious, becoming clear before the year has closed that it was extraordinary and memorable."
And that's just in the preface. Sentence structure this clunky would get (and, in my case, *was*) torn to shreds in Freshman composition class; it only got worse, from one page to the next.
I'm not expecting works of this nature to read like Flaubert in translation. But no matter how much I'm drawn to the subject matter, the writing (at the sentence level) cannot be completely phoned in. Otherwise, it just becomes unreadable.
I'm debating whether to return it, or to keep it as a desk reference for how not to compose a piece of non-fiction.
March 3, 2015
For those of us who came of age in the 1990's, this book is a sweet walk down memory lane. Of course, having lived through the events described in the book, one feels a special kinship with each story, in the same way one would greet an old friend. At first, I was skeptical that 1995 was really "the year the future began". However, Campbell does a good job supporting his title assertion and it really makes you think critically about the year from way back when. This will book will have you saying "I remember that!" more than a few times, and is part of the reason I really liked this book.
June 28, 2015
The author recounts five events tied to 1995 and attempts to make the case that it was a watershed year in history. Unfortunately, there's little punch to the thesis and, in the case of the Internet and Lewinsky, 1995 was but one of many years that they could be tied to.
The Oklahoma City bombing chapter was well written and a good recount of the event and its subsequent impact on the future. Cannot say the same for the other chapters which meandered pointlessly. On a plus note, having lived through 1995, it was fun to turn back the clock if only for sake of reminiscing.
The Oklahoma City bombing chapter was well written and a good recount of the event and its subsequent impact on the future. Cannot say the same for the other chapters which meandered pointlessly. On a plus note, having lived through 1995, it was fun to turn back the clock if only for sake of reminiscing.
July 13, 2015
Look, I'm a sucker for popular history that examines a specific year. I was also fully on board for trumpeting the importance of 1995. But there's just not enough here. What I already knew wasn't enriched, and what I didn't know left me uneducated. Also, the five events feel random and incoherent. Tie the loose ends. Convince me that your thesis is valid (or, at least, interesting). Instead, read about 1848, 1908, 1914, 1945, 1968, 1979...
August 15, 2015
I really enjoyed the book because it was well written and contained topics that were engaging to me. I really liked the time line at the end of the book that listed many significant events, not necessity watershed events. But it failed to mention it was the year that I graduated from high school and the introduction of the Macarena to the U.S. Pop Music genre. What happens in your world in 1995?
December 16, 2015
Well written & impeccably footnoted. For those like me, born in the mid 80s, old enough to only grasp the basic narratives and gravity of the year's events without quite understanding them, I can't recommend this book highly enough.
October 15, 2014
I found it very interesting, had no idea how many world changing events took place in 1995.
April 18, 2015
Refreshed my memory, and contained some details/stories I didn't previously know. This is a fun read, but the analysis isn't very deep.
April 19, 2016
Campbell's perspective was interesting and provided a good refresher for the year.
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January 2, 2019A lot happened in 1995, as this author points out, among them the dawning of the internet. "It was, as we have seen , a decisive year, the time when the Internet entered the mainstream of American life; when terrorism reached deep into the American heartland with devastating effect" (The Oklahoma bombing). There was the massacre in Bosnia (8000 died). There was the "trial of the century" (O.J. Simpson) that "brought DNA to the popular consciousness" (never before had TV broadcasted a trial to such effect). There was Clinton's impeachment, a time of national disgrace. It was a year of great wealth, and more... All working in sync it seems, challenging our worldviews as a nation. This author helped me understand why our Congress and nation are so divided today, and more. If you are looking for answers, this is a good place to start.
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