Campbell's book, his sixth, explores a hinge moment of the recent American past.
The year 1995 marked the emergence of the Internet and World Wide Web into mainstream consciousness, propelled by events such as the dramatic initial public offering of Netscape Communications, the Silicon Valley startup that made an immensely popular Web browser.
It also was the year of these major watersheds:
- the Oklahoma City bombing, an attack that killed 168 people and signaled a deepening national preoccupation with terrorism
- the sensational "Trial of the Century," in which O.J. Simpson answered charges of double murder
- the Dayton Peace Accords, when the United States brokered an agreement ending the war in Bosnia, Europe’s most vicious conflict since World War II
- the beginnings of the affair between President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern 27 years his junior -- an affair that led to Clinton's impeachment.
Important features and realities of contemporary life can be traced to 1995 and its watershed moments. "The fingerprints of 1995," Campbell says, "are all over the present."
TALKING 1995
Campbell has discussed the pivotal nature of 1995 at a variety of venues, among them the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Politics & Prose bookstore, and with a variety of media outlets, including twice on the Kennedy Show on Fox Business Network.
His book talk at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., has aired on C-SPAN.
He also has been interviewed by Reason.com, Radio New Zealand, Swedish national radio, and public and commercial radio stations in Baltimore, Cleveland, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.
The book and the year also were featured in Italy's largest newspaper, Corriere della Sera:
What critics saY
- "[A] remarkable book .... Campbell’s intense commitment to his material brings it to life. He's a persuasive writer with an excellent sense of detail and a knack for narrative. Even those who clearly remember 1995, and know how major events turned out, will find his book illuminating."
— Robert Fulford in National Post [Toronto]
- "[A] compulsively readable new book." — Nick Gillespie, Reason
- "A worthy, informative, and sporting attempt to convince us that the world we live in was crucially shaped by things that happened in 1995." — Louis Menand, New Yorker
- “[A] fascinating snapshot of a year that foreshadows our current era in many respects; [the] chapters on the Oklahoma City bombing, the OJ trial and even the birth of Internet institutions such as Amazon are particularly engrossing, with many new details for those who thought they knew all the angles to those once ubiquitous stories.” — Ed Driscoll, Instapundit
1995 And the O.J. Trial
The O.J. Simpson double-murder trial spread like a stain across much of 1995. The proceedings in Los Angeles went on for nearly eight months and were called "The Trial of the Century." Such characterizations were exaggerated, as Campbell discusses in this op-ed.
The most significant and lasting effect of the Simpson trial was in the popular introduction of forensic DNA evidence. “Through the Simpson case,” Campbell writes, “the American public gained a measure of familiarity with forensic DNA testing,” a familiarity that has deepend significantly.
1995: Origins of A scandal
The dalliance between President Bill Clinton and intern Monica Lewinsky -- an affair that led to his impeachement -- began during the federal government shutdown in mid-November 1995. The beginnings of the Clinton-Lewinsky liaison represented one of the pivotal moments of 1995, as Campbell discusses.
Campbell's Other books
- Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism (2010)
- The Year That Defined American Journalism: 1897 and the Clash of Paradigms (2006)
- The Spanish-American War: American Wars and the Media in Primary Documents (2005)
- Yellow Journalism : Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies(2001)
- The Emergent Independent Press in Benin and Cote d'Ivoire (1998)