approaches (psychotherapy, exercise, herbs) in
coping with depression.
Healy, David.The Antidepressant Era. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997. A detailed
history of the development, marketing, and effec-
tiveness of antidepressants is presented by a
noted expert in the field of psychopharmacology.
Ingersoll, R. Elliott, and Carl Rak.Psychopharmacol-
ogy for Helping Professionals: An Integral Exploration.
Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2006.
An introduction to psychopharmacology that is
accessible to the lay reader. Chapters 4, 5, and 9
present a good overview of antidepressants.
Kramer, Peter.Listening to Prozac: The Landmark Book
About Antidepressants and the Remaking of the Self.
Rev. ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1997. Best-
selling book that played a significant role in pro-
moting a culturally accepting attitude toward
antidepressants explores the use of Prozac in
treating depression and eliciting positive person-
ality changes.
Paul J. Chara, Jr.
See also Culture wars; Drug advertising; Drug use;
Health care; Medicine; Pharmaceutical industry; Psy-
chology; Science and technology.
Apple Computer
Identification American hardware and software
company
As the manufacturer of the Macintosh, the first computer
based on a graphical user interface, Apple was a leader in
innovation in the early 1990’s. By the end of the decade, the
company had reinvented itself and come back from near fi-
nancial collapse.
In 1990, Apple Computer (later Apple, Inc.) intro-
duced its fastest Macintosh to date, the IIfx. How-
ever, it was a troubled machine, its price point plac-
ing it out of the reach of all but the most high-end
users. Furthermore, it used special hardware that
was in short supply, and several of its interfaces were
prone to intermittent trouble. By the end of the year,
Apple announced that it would produce a number
of new Macintosh models that would bring the price
point down to levels comparable to Intel-based ma-
chines. In theory, these models would make Apple’s
slogan of “The computer for the rest of us” less of a
bad joke, but in fact the LC and IIsi remained pricey,
and Apple’s market share did not grow.
In 1989, Apple released its first laptop, the Mac
Portable. A heavy, underpowered monstrosity, the
computer was a failure. Apple took two years to re-
think laptop computing and finally ended up part-
nering with Japanese electronics giant Sony to pro-
duce laptops. In October of 1991, Apple rolled out
the PowerBook, which introduced several key fea-
tures that would soon be widely copied, including a
keyboard with handrests on either side of the
trackball. That year also saw the introduction of the
System 7 operating system (OS), which had been de-
layed several times. Also in 1991, Apple joined forces
with International Business Machines (IBM) and
Motorola to create the AIM alliance, which was sup-
posed to create a new generation of computers
based on RISC (reduced instruction set computing)
processor technology. The alliance created the
PowerPC microprocessor, which became the basis
for all of Apple’s computers for more than a decade.
In 1993, Apple finally took the drastic step of
eliminating the Apple II, the computer that had
originally made its fortune. By that point, the Apple
IIgs, the only model remaining in production, had
incorporated so many features from the Macintosh
that it was deemed redundant. That year also
marked major upheavals in Apple’s corporate struc-
ture as chief executive officer (CEO) John Sculley
left under a firestorm of criticism, to be replaced by
Michael Spindler, a German-born engineer nick-
named “the Diesel.”
After the introduction of several lower-cost con-
sumer models in 1992 and 1993, Apple rolled out
the Power Macintosh series, its first computers to be
based upon the PowerPC chip, in 1994. At first these
machines were aimed primarily at high-end users,
but as economies of scale began to take hold, the use
of PowerPC chips spread throughout the Macintosh
line to consumer models and laptops, and use of the
68000 series of chips was phased out.Near Collapse and Comeback The mid-1990’s
proved a low point for Apple. The innovative Power-
Book 5300 proved a lemon, with horror stories of
fragile power ports and flammable batteries driving
customers away. Worse, the various projects that
were supposed to create a new and innovative oper-
ating system to take full advantage of the PowerPC
chip’s designs were foundering, and the Mac OSThe Nineties in America Apple Computer 43