Episode Notes

In this week's (much delayed) episode we chat with Dr Sean O'Brien and Dr Madeline Lane-McKinley about their upcoming book: The Return of the 90s: A Cultural History of the Present and ask - did we ever really leave? We discuss the ontological correlation between the Spice Girls and 9/11, question what Francis Fukuyama would think of Cher, consider the surprising indexical correlates of beanie babies and the long economic downturn, and get into 90s feminist theory by way of the American Girl Doll and the erotic thriller. We ask a series of questions about our favourite figures of the 90s and learn that North Americans have a very different archive of this iconic shiny, grungy decade. We close with a debate on periodicity and discuss the various 'crashes' that define the decade: the burst of the dot.com bubble, hijacked planes, Diana's car crash and the death of Aaliyah.

You can buy a copy of the book here: [https://www.plutobooks.com/product/the-return-of-the-90s/ ](