Book Talk: Return of the 90s w/ Sean O'Brien & Thomas Laughlin

Sean O'Brien and Dr. Thomas Laughlin are coming to Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Thursday 4 September for a book talk on The Return of the 90s: A Cultural History of the Present. O'Brien edited the anthology, and Laughlin is one of the contributors, so the two of them will be talking through the book together.

If you've noticed the 90s coming back into fashion lately, that's exactly what the book is about. It's an anthology that looks at the current fascination with the decade and frames the 90s as a cultural watershed—the stretch of time between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 9/11 attacks. It was a period that saw the 'end of history' declared, the birth of the internet, the consolidation of neoliberalism, and the rise of the anti-globalisation movement.

The book works its way between sociology and cultural studies on one hand and nostalgia on the other, and it doesn't shy away from the pop culture that defined the era. It covers everything from 'girl power' and Star Trek to hip-hop, queer cinema, anarchist counterculture, and the erotic thriller. If you spent any time in the 90s, a lot of that will probably ring a bell, and if you weren't around, it's a good way to see how those things fit together.

It's a book talk, so you'll hear O'Brien and Laughlin discuss the ideas behind the anthology and the different essays it brings together. The session runs from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at Trident, 1256 Hollis Street, in the heart of downtown Halifax.