Late summer 1995, and the spate of media mergers
Twenty years ago this week, Disney Company revealed it was buying the parent corporation of ABC for $19 billion in what then was the second most-lucrative corporate merger ever in … Continue reading
What ‘Clueless’ at 20 can tell us about exploring the recent past
Clueless, surely the most memorable teen movie of 1995, turned 20 over the weekend, an occasion marked by more than a few retrospectives that considered how life differed back then. … Continue reading
20 years after its launch, Amazon showing an unlikable side
Twenty years after it opened for business online, Amazon.com is showing a meaner side that has become pretty obvious. The world’s largest online retailer delivers an enormous variety of products … Continue reading
The 1995 massacre at Srebrenica and its effects on U.S. policy
Twenty years ago this week, Bosnia Serb forces seized control of the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and soon after began rounding up, and killing, the Muslim men … Continue reading
Of space shuttles and love-sick woodpeckers, 1995
For NASA, 1995 was quite the robust year. The space agency in 1995 launched its 100th human mission, sending a crew of five Americans and two Russians into Earth orbit … Continue reading
1995 as tipping point: Recalling Smith Corona’s bankruptcy
Even as 1995 unfolded, it became clear that the year would be regarded as a hinge moment, as an important transitory time near the end of the millennium. As I … Continue reading
‘Cyberporn’ scare of 1995 demonstrates the early Web’s corrective power
The demotion last month of Brian Williams, the former NBC News lead anchor, was testimony, at least in part, to the power of social media to expose and debunk. The … Continue reading
Microsoft warns Netscape in prelude to the ‘browser war’ of 1995-98
Before they were locked in a death struggle known as the “browser war,” the software giant Microsoft and Web upstart Netscape made nice, at least for a while. Representatives of … Continue reading
Hinge moment at the O.J. ‘Trial of the Century’
O.J. Simpson never testified at his sensational double-murder trial in 1995. Even so, a consistent feature of the often-absorbing, often-repellant case was that Simpson was never far from center stage … Continue reading
When Secret Service officers wore rubber gloves to greet gay officials
Is it “different enough”? One of the tests for conducting research into the recent past is whether the period under scrutiny is “different enough” from the present. With the passage … Continue reading
The 1995 Blog 