Devotees of Ganz’s pugilistic writing on Substack may be surprised by the restraint he displays in his first book. When the Clock Broke is a work of narrative history that is comparatively light on confrontation and polemic ... Opponents of the far right have an unfortunate tendency to caricature it as a coalition of hapless fools, incapable of mustering ideas and therefore beneath serious consideration. Ganz knows better than to take this condescending and intellectually dishonest approach. Instead, he tackles reactionary belligerence with appropriate rigor.
Terrific ... He puts his full range of interests into this book, braiding together history, theory and cultural criticism. When the Clock Broke captures the sweep of the early ’90s in all its weirdness and vainglory ... One of those rarest of books: unflaggingly entertaining while never losing sight of its moral core.
Lively...argues with disarming vim ... Ganz does his most dogged work in the political trenches, particularly in dissecting what would come to be known as the culture wars ... A vivid tour.
Accomplished ... It showcases sophisticated political argumentation, erudite prose, enviable rigor, and a depth of knowledge ... Ganz’s story is compellingly told, with a sharp eye for detail and for unexpected connections, and his implicit argument is largely persuasive, yet one might still quibble with his decision to stop where he does.
When the Clock Broke makes a convincing case for paying closer attention to the early 1990s ... Ganz writes about the right’s trolls and brawlers with an unusual perceptiveness ... When the Clock Broke reads most powerfully as an account of how America fell out of love with the ideology of the civics lesson and embraced the political darkness
Masterly ... Throughout his book Ganz spotlights the rage and rancor that spread beneath the surface of American life in a period now remembered for its peace and prosperity.
...superb ... When the Clock Broke offers a compelling examination of a neglected and revealing period in American history. It is also one of the most entertaining history books I have read in years. Ganz has a novelist’s skill at managing character, pacing and plot, as well as a great eye for details that are telling, bizarre and hilarious ... Ganz brilliantly weaves the structural changes in American politics and society into his portraits of the right-wing figures who rose to prominence in this period.
Ganz has distinguished himself through his ability to uncover the often-unnoticed origins of far-right politics. The book confirms his reputation as one of America’s most astute observers of the Right and allows readers to see the 1990s with new eyes ... Ganz does not limit himself to providing vividly drawn portraits of the Right and extreme center. His ambitions are broader and more politically pressing. When the Clock Broke is a diagnostic project as well as a descriptive one, seeking to explain the emergence and appeal of Trump ... How the 1990s politics of national despair connects to the present isn’t really explored, and When the Clock Broke’s overall historical interpretation is ambiguous.
Ganz, a history-minded essayist and successful newsletter pamphleteer, systematically dismantles the comforting notion that the current civic emergency is some unprecedented break with history ... Ganz lets the happenings of history speak on their own terms, re-invested with the energy and ridiculousness of current events, trusting the reader to hear the alarming echoes and harmonies ... Ganz’s 1990s sound like today because they sound like America. This creates the space for more intriguing thoughts to develop; a chapter on Rush Limbaugh and the masculine mass-media aggression of shock-talk radio, amplified by corporate consolidation, turns to the matter of large-scale male loneliness.
