In 1990, when The Continuous Life was published, George Bush Sr. was midway through his presidency. His son, George Bush Jr., would be elected president in 2001, providing continuity— after an interruption of eight years—for the Bush family. The 1990s, however, are perhaps best known for their contribution to smoothing over communicative discontinuity, as millions of people worldwide began using the Internet as their primary means of exchanging information. "Born" in 1990, the World Wide Web revolutionized communication and business, enabling people to e-mail one another rather than telephone or write letters. In 1994, three million people had online accounts and, by 1998, more than 100 million users were online. Recent estimates put current usership of the Internet at more than a half billion, with the United States accounting for almost 40 percent of those. Many of these users bought and sold stock via online brokers during the economic boom of the 1990s...