Nineties in America
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\ Library JournalThis three-volume set by Berman (history, Univ. of Rochester) is the most recent addition to Salem's popular "Decades of America" series, with titles also covering the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. As in other volumes in the series, the 600-plus entries are arranged alphabetically and vary in length from half a page to six pages. The focus is not only on the significant people and events of the last decade but also on the impact of technology and other advances. For example, digital audio was a relatively new technology during the decade, but it is covered here because of the impact it's had on the music industry. Each volume contains a table of contents for all three volumes, and at the end of Volume 3 are 16 appendixes covering everything from major films of the decade to time lines for each year.\ —Diane Fulkerson\ \ \ \ \ \ School Library JournalGr 9 Up—This set's 630 entries cover a wide variety of topics, including politics, arts and entertainment, popular culture, the environment, minority groups, and sports, with minimal background or discussion of events before or after the featured decade. The work also provides extensive coverage of the 1990s technology boom: innovations and inventions in communications, health and medicine, science, and industry. Generally well written and objective, the essays are cross-referenced, run from one to six pages in length, and are divided into user-friendly sections that provide details about a person, event, or topic; analyze its impact; and discuss subsequent developments. The essays include short bibliographies, which are annotated for the longer entries. Appendixes provide lists about entertainment, literature, music, sports, court cases, and legislation, and indexing is extensive. Average-quality captioned black-and-white photos, sidebars, and excerpts from primary sources supplement the text. Although topics range from Beavis and Butt-Head and hip-hop music to the Lewinsky affair and Supreme Court rulings, the strength of this set is its superior coverage of the decade-long explosion in technology. A solid choice.—Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO\ \
