The best of times

The Clinton years, they were the best of times -- and the worst. A time of unprecedented wealth, of breathtaking progress in technology, the world-changing Internet, and the genome with the medical miracles it promised. And yet, a deepening sense of unease hovered over America, and a deepening concern about how these developments would alter our lives. Set against these triumphs was another America dominated by all-news TV and the gossip journalism of the Internet, driven by a celebrity culture, lacking civility, racially divided, and presided over by our first Boomer leader, William Jefferson Clinton. From that first moment, when the white Bronco popped up on the nation's screens, O.J. was the ultimate TV story played out in excruciating detail -- all O.J., all the time. In this remarkable book, Haynes Johnson re-creates it all -- the chase, the cops and lawyers, the trial, all come to life in a superbly paced narrative. In the telling of the story, he has much to say about violence, sex, race, and gossip in the media. Enter Monica, along with the two witches of the tale, Linda Tripp and Lucy Goldberg, plotting to bring down the president while his pal, Vernon Jordan, the ultimate insider, works to save him. In Haynes Johnson's hands both Bill and Monica become sympathetic characters, caught in a trap largely of their own making. It is almost a tragic story, or at least a semi-tragic one. Besides these two great dramas, Johnson also writes of the Wall Street boom and the culture of instant (if temporary) dot-com wealth, of Hollywood and the rise of the mogul David Geffen, and of the lives and deeds of dozens of other characters. He concludes with an account of the election of 2000, how the '90s made it inevitable. The Best of Times, the product of four years of interviews with America's leaders in politics, business, and science, is in the best tradition of timeless social history -- a memorable portrait of the nation at a turning point. - Jacket flap.