America Unravels: A Riveting Look at the Turbulent Early 1990s
In the waning days of 1991, as the Soviet hammer and sickle flag was lowered for the last time over the Kremlin, many Americans felt a sense of triumphalism. The Cold War was over, and the U.S. stood alone as the world’s sole superpower. But rather than ushering in an era of peace and prosperity, the early 1990s proved to be a time of rising anger, social upheaval, and political polarization that in many ways set the stage for our current tumultuous era.
In his gripping new book “When the Clock Broke,” political writer John Ganz takes us on a whirlwind tour of this pivotal yet often overlooked period in recent American history. With a journalist’s eye for detail and a historian’s analytical acumen, Ganz weaves together a cast of colorful characters and watershed events to tell the story of a nation struggling to find its footing in a rapidly changing world. From David Duke’s gubernatorial campaign in Louisiana to the LA riots, from Rush Limbaugh’s radio rise to Ross Perot’s quixotic presidential bid, Ganz masterfully captures the zeitgeist of an America coming apart at the seams.
A Nation in Crisis
Ganz opens his narrative in the swamps of Louisiana, where former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke mounted a shockingly successful run for governor in 1991. Duke’s campaign, with its thinly veiled appeals to white racial grievance, serves as a harbinger of the populist anger and nativism that would come to dominate American politics in the decades to come.
From there, we careen through a series of political earthquakes and social upheavals that rocked the nation: Pat Buchanan’s insurgent primary challenge to George H.W. Bush, the riots that engulfed Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict, the rise of militia movements and “sovereign citizens” in the heartland, and Ross Perot’s out-of-nowhere presidential campaign that captured the imagination of millions of disaffected voters.
Ganz has a knack for vividly bringing historical figures to life on the page. His portraits of key players like Buchanan, Perot, and Bill Clinton are nuanced and insightful. We see Buchanan, the pugnacious populist, railing against globalization and immigration in New Hampshire diners. We witness Perot, the pint-sized Texas billionaire, captivating audiences with his folksy charm and charts warning of economic doom. And we watch a young Bill Clinton navigate the treacherous waters of racial politics as he tries to chart a “third way” for the Democratic Party.
The Seeds of Our Discontent
One of the book’s great strengths is Ganz’s ability to draw connections between seemingly disparate events and trace the roots of our current political divides back to this turbulent period. He astutely analyzes how the end of the Cold War upended traditional political alignments and opened space for new ideologies and movements to emerge.
Ganz pays particular attention to the intellectual ferment on the right during this time. He devotes considerable ink to chronicling the bitter feuds between neoconservatives and “paleo-conservatives” that fractured the Reagan coalition. Figures like Pat Buchanan and Sam Francis get extended treatment as Ganz explores how their “America First” nationalism and racial politics presaged the rise of Trumpism decades later.
The author also does an excellent job situating cultural flashpoints of the era—from Murphy Brown to Sister Souljah—within the broader context of the ongoing culture wars. His dissection of the media landscape, from the advent of Rush Limbaugh to the rise of conspiracy theorizing, helps explain how alternative information ecosystems took root.
A Country Coming Unglued
Throughout the book, Ganz returns to the theme of social dissolution and the fraying of America’s civic fabric. Whether discussing the LA riots, Ruby Ridge, or the wallowing despair of the rust belt, he paints a picture of a nation coming unglued.
Some of the book’s most vivid and disturbing passages deal with the rise of right-wing militia movements and “sovereign citizens” in the early 90s. Ganz’s deep dive into the ideology of Christian Identity groups and his recounting of deadly standoffs like Ruby Ridge are chilling reminders of the undercurrents of extremism that have long bubbled beneath the surface of American life.
The economic anxieties and social dislocations of the period also get their due. Ganz effectively conveys how deindustrialization, the farm crisis, and the emergence of a more globalized economy left many Americans feeling adrift and angry. His empathetic portrayals of struggling farmers and laid-off factory workers help explain the appeal of populist figures like Perot and Buchanan.
Echoes of the Present
One can’t help but draw parallels between the turbulent period Ganz describes and our current political moment. The racial tensions, economic anxieties, distrust in institutions, and rise of conspiracy thinking that defined the early 90s feel eerily familiar today.
Ganz doesn’t belabor these connections, wisely focusing on telling the story of the period on its own terms. But the resonances are impossible to ignore. Reading about Pat Buchanan’s “America First” campaign or Ross Perot’s anti-establishment crusade, one can’t help but think of more recent populist insurgencies.
The book serves as a powerful reminder that many of the fault lines dividing America today have deep historical roots. The polarization and tribalism of our current era didn’t emerge from nowhere – they were decades in the making.
A Few Quibbles
While “When the Clock Broke” is an impressive work of political history, it’s not without its flaws. At times, Ganz’s narrative can feel a bit scattered as he jumps between disparate events and characters. A stronger framing device or throughline might have helped tie everything together more cohesively.
Additionally, while Ganz does an admirable job covering a vast amount of ground, there are a few notable omissions. The book is very focused on domestic politics, with little attention paid to foreign policy beyond the Gulf War. A bit more on how the end of the Cold War reshaped America’s role on the world stage would have been welcome.
There’s also a slight liberal bias that occasionally creeps into Ganz’s analysis, particularly in his treatment of some conservative figures. While he’s generally fair-minded, his antipathy for certain right-wing ideologues sometimes comes through a bit too strongly.
The Verdict
These minor quibbles aside, “When the Clock Broke” is an illuminating and compulsively readable account of a pivotal moment in recent American history. Ganz has produced a work that manages to be both scholarly and gripping—no small feat for a book dense with political history.
For readers seeking to understand the roots of our current political dysfunction, “When the Clock Broke” offers invaluable context and insight. It’s a stark reminder that the forces tearing at the fabric of American democracy today have been building for decades.
Ganz’s vivid prose and keen analysis make for an engrossing read, even for those who lived through the period he describes. For younger readers with no direct memory of the early 90s, the book serves as an eye-opening introduction to a turbulent era that in many ways birthed our current age of anxiety and division.
“When the Clock Broke” is essential reading for anyone seeking to make sense of how America arrived at its present state of polarization and discontent. It’s a sobering yet illuminating look at a nation in crisis—a crisis that, in many ways, we’re still living through today.
Similar Books
For readers who enjoy “When the Clock Broke,” here are a few similar titles worth checking out:
- “What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party” by Michael Kazin
- “The Age of Fracture” by Daniel T. Rodgers
- “The Nineties: A Book” by Chuck Klosterman
- “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America” by Kurt Andersen
About the Author
John Ganz is a political writer and essayist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and other publications. “When the Clock Broke” is his debut book. Ganz brings his incisive analysis and engaging prose style honed through years of journalism to this deeper historical exploration.