"Benes’ book makes a compelling case that the most reviled, lowbrow forms of popular entertainment were instrumental in creating many things we enjoy today, and that they also offered an effective remedy for the things we hate. . . . Benes is strongest when he . . . presents low culture as the product of democratization, removing barriers to participation between social strata."—Reason Magazine
"This book pulls the curtain back on this best and worst of times era, and traces the lasting implications of the expansion of trashy, throwaway culture in a way that’s easy to assimilate."—California Review of Books
"There is a fantastic chapter detailing the rise of The Insane Clown Posse and how being portrayed as outsiders allowed their fans to find common ground as counter-culture ambassadors and a sort of pseudo-family, something that plays hard into today’s “us vs them” mindset amongst conservatives and progressives. . . . I did not expect there to be such strong ties between the pop culture of the ’90s and what we’re experiencing today."—Post Wrestling
"Benes examines everything from Jerry Springer to pro wrestling and LimpBizkit, using his impressive research and storytelling skills to answer the age-old question: How did we get here?"—AV Club
"A compelling narrative, dealing with some fascinating subjects that it’s enjoyable to look back on."—Living Life Fearless
“Ross Benes is one of the boldest and bawdiest writers I’ve ever worked with; I always worried that even editing him might get me arrested. His shrewd excavations of lowbrow culture reads like high art, whether he’s taking on Pokémon or porn. I’d tell you he never breaks kayfabe, but it’s simpler than that: he’s the real thing.”—Rob Harvilla, author of 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s
“I’ve been trying to figure out when, exactly, the world started falling apart, and I had started to worry the answer was, ‘always.’ That may yet be true, but I find it more comforting to go with Ross Benes’s compellingly, entertainingly argued case that it all fell apart in the age of Limp Bizkit and Juggalos . . . which is to say, in 1999, when the world started looking a lot like it does now. This book is smart, funny, and persuasive . . . though not as comforting as I might wish it were.”—Will Leitch, author of How Lucky and The Time Has Come
“Grab a Lunchable and pull up an inflatable chair for this must-read analysis of 1990s reality TV, plushy fads, one-hit wonders, porn stars, and video games. More than a fun romp through the good, bad, and ugly of a now bygone era, 1999 offers serious perspective for understanding the relationship between pop culture and the broader American landscape of politics and inequities in decades past as well as today.”—Kelsy Burke, author of The Pornography Wars: The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Obscene Obsession
“1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times does far more than simply provide a highlight reel of the most notorious entertainment products in the dying gasps of the ’90s. Rather, it threads together things like Jerry Springer, The Rock, and Beanie Babies into a cohesive deep dive into the lowest common denominator, showing us how fame, power, and money can warp even the best intentions. Simultaneously weird, sobering, and ceaselessly thoughtful, 1999 isn’t just about the end of a century, but the beginning of the world we know now.”—Daniel Dockery, author of Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All“In 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times, Ross Benes hilariously unpacks how the outrageous entertainment of 1999—from Jerry Springer brawls to video game mayhem—took over America and set the stage for today’s weird world. With sharp wit, Benes shows how the year’s rebellious chaos still echoes through our culture, for better or worse.”—Patrick Markey, coauthor of Moral Combat: Why the War on Video Games is Wrong
“1999 gives power and authority to the very forms of culture that are deemed least legitimate and least worthy, mainly when politicians and religious leaders thought they would be the downfall of society. There is a link between devaluing culture and political unrest/change. Specifically, this book helps to explain the election of Donald Trump in ways that most strictly scholarly analyses cannot capture.”—Dustin Kidd, author of Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society
“1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times is an insightful, well-researched look at the premier junk we were consuming at the turn of the century. Thank you, Ross Benes, for reminding me of so many terrible-in-a-good-way cultural moments.”—Mark Yarm, author of Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge
