Ever read Only Yesterday and Since Yesterday? One is a history of the 1920s and the other of the 1930s. Wonderful books with great stories, the Lindburg Trial, The Wall Street Bomb, the Crash, the Monkey Trial, the Model T. But the amazing thing is that they were published in (about) 1930 and 1940, just as the decade ended.
The author had remarkable insight into what would be important to History.
So I have been doodling some notes toward such a book. Anyone have thoughts on what people in (say) 2050 will think was important about the nameless decade of 1999 to 2009?
There’s a sequel to Only Yesterday? Wow! I’m definitely going to have to track that down.
What would be important to such a book today? Hmm…
The most unexpected thing I’m aware of in the last decade was the rise of same-sex marriage. (At least it was unexpected to me, outside the gay community.) The lawsuits that legalised in in Canada and other countries, the reaction in the States, changes in immigration law, etc, etc. The approval in Canada was based on equality provisions of the 1982 constitution (I’m sure that matt_mcl could give greater detail), so there’s a whole law process going on there.
Something larger, though: the social effects of always-on network connections, everything from SMS to Facebook. How that was rooted in inexpensive worldwide communications, especially the transoceanic fiber optic network.
One remarkable thing is the lack of any really kick-butt technological change. Things dealing with the storage transmission and handling of information have crashed and will have important impacts, but they are not too interesting. No flying jet packs. No hover cars.
ALso I am having trouble with the culture chapter, as I ain’t got none. The consoildation of media ownership (just as these media outlets become less important) the rise of the blogosphere. On a more human level, Britnney seems to be willing to self destruct rather neatly in a single decade. Still, the Lindburg Case it isn’t.
In politics, the collapse of the Reagan Revolution and the rise of the Democrats will be a major change. Add in trying to explain how screwed up all these elections were and you have a fat chapter.
The consolidation of media ownership, the rise of new media barons. What are the effects of corporate ownership on popular music? Some have argues American radio play-lists are much too conservative, not open to new artists.
I remember it being very odd in the late 90’s that I like Japanamation, and now manga and anime are pretty mainstream. There seems to be a shift from the 80’s/90’s of pulling culture from England/Europe to now pulling culture from Asia. This could be selection bias on my part, though.
Also, video games are a much bigger market than they used to be. The Wii is fairly revolutionary in making inroads to people who don’t consider themselves gamers.
Got anything about the rise and relative decline of Texas Hold 'Em in your book yet?