Hello, you've made it to the back of the book, your new favorite arts and culture podcast.

I'm your host, Christopher Scalia, a senior fellow at the

American Enterprise Institute, and of course, the author of the still new book, 13 novels,

Conservatives Will Love, but probably haven't read. My guest today is the author of another

recent book, Ross Benish, the author of another recent book.

Ross Benish, the author of 1999, the year low culture conquered America and kick-started our bizarre times.

As Americans observe the present state of our politics and culture, we often ask ourselves, well, how did we get here?

And Benish has an answer to that question. It relates specifically to American culture from the

end of last century. Ross considers how some of the mass culture of 1999 paved the way for the

culture and politics we're experiencing now,

from Beanie Babies to Pokemon to professional wrestling and video games,

new metal and hip-hop, pornography, and daytime talk television.

He explores an array of culture from the past that you may have forgotten,

but which hasn't forgotten you.

Ross, welcome to the show.

Okay, good to be here.

All right.

What is it about 1999 that makes it such a formative year in American culture?

So what happens at the end of the 20th century is pop culture is really zany and kitchy because

there's a lot of fear and anxiety around Y2K coming. So it leads to a lot of really wild stuff being

produced. And my argument is that the trashiest aspects of culture rise to the top due to media

conglomer, it's getting larger and seeking cheap hits and

...