The 2000s

In this comprehensive and accessible installment in Greenwood’s “Pop Goes the Decade” series, historian Hall (The American Superhero: Encyclopedia of Caped Crusaders in History) studies the first decade of the new millennium. Each chapter dissects a medium—sports, TV, literature, and more—and examines its response to 9/11 and the voices that shaped it the most. A decade that began with VHS tapes and Blockbuster Video, CDs and terrestrial radio, pagers and landline telephones, underwent enormous progress in a short span of time. Hall discusses the fast-moving technology that led to streaming services, social media, CGI, and 3-D movies and gives brief histories of everything from reality television to Disney and superhero movies, the late-night talk show wars to the rise of cable news domination, the steroid drug scandal in sports, and the great divide in the political parties. He discusses how the arts reflected the massive conflicts in U.S. society and provided welcome relief from the stress of everyday life.