Counting Down to the Millennium
As the New Year approaches another countdown -- to the end of the century -- also starts. Every restaurant within striking distance of Times Square is booked for New Year's Eve 1999. Carnegie Mellon social historian Peter Stearns says our obsession with the end of an epoch is not limited to religious fanatics. Millennium fever is spreading throughout our society, cropping up in advertising, talk show culture and even the strategic planning of major corporations.
Playing with the idea of "The End" is simply too close to the realities of modern anxiety and too much fun to ignore, as Stearns shows in his new book, "Millennium III, Century XXI." In it, Stearns discusses earlier turn-of-the-century neuroses and offers some thoughts about why even modern cultures see significance in this particular unit of time.
Contact: Teresa Sokol Thomas, Public Relations, 412-268-3580
Peter N. Stearns, 412-268-2832
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