The 1990s

As the Cold War ended and a new millennium approached, grunge, hip-hop and rave exploded in popularity as teenagers and twenty-somethings searched for something real and meaningful. Ostentation was out. Authenticity was in. The 1990s had arrived. And so we had the first flashes of reality TV, the O.J. Simpson trial, the rise of surveillance culture and the internet. A fascinating ecosystem of influence between high and low culture, this stimulating volume makes sense of the decade's recurring motifs, trends and themes, from supermodels to airport style and from the fall of the Soviet Union to the end of the world.