Nostalgia for 1990s Conservativism

Wistfulness for the 1990s is in fashion. This is understandable, if not always healthy. As Millennials approach middle age, our thoughts increasingly turn to our juvenescence. Given our frustrations with today’s elected officials, the urge to look fondly back at the political era dominated by Bill Clinton and New Gingrich can be irresistible. Sure, there were plenty of scandals and demagogues, but in retrospect the era seems placid and functional.

Although far from a work of nostalgia, Nicole Hemmer’s new book, Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s is well timed to take advantage of this cultural moment. Hemmer is currently employed with the Obama Presidency Oral History Project at Columbia University. She is an unapologetic progressive, and her political loyalties are clear throughout the text. Although they will likely have many misgivings about her analysis, fair-minded conservative readers will also enjoy her work.

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