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A Witty and Poignant Reflection on Recent History Through a Contemporary Lens, Perfect for Winter 2025, See How Y2K Shaped Our Past, Present, and Future
by Colette Shade
Perfect for fans of Jia Tolentino and Chuck Klosterman, Y2K is a delightfully nostalgic and bitingly told exploration about how the early 2000s forever changed us and the world we live in.
THE EARLY 2000s conjures images of inflatable furniture, flip phones, and low-rise jeans. It was a new millennium and the future looked bright, promising prosperity for all. The internet had arrived, and technology was shiny and fun. For many, it felt like the end of history: no more wars, racism, or sexism. But then history kept happening. Twenty-five years after the ball dropped on December 31st, 1999, we are still living in the shadows of the Y2K Era.
In Y2K, one of our most brilliant young critics Colette Shade offers a darkly funny meditation on everything from the pop culture to the political economy of the period. By close reading Y2K artifacts like the Hummer H2, Smash Mouth's "All Star," body glitter, AOL chatrooms, Total Request Live, and early internet porn, Shade produces an affectionate yet searing critique of a decade that started with a boom and ended with a crash.
In one essay Colette unpacks how hearing Ludacris's hit song "What's Your Fantasy" shaped a generation's sexual awakening; in another she interrogates how her eating disorder developed as rail-thin models from the collapsed USSR flooded the pages of Vogue; in another she reveals how the McMansion became an ominous symbol of the housing collapse.
Perfect for fans of Jia Tolentino and Chuck Klosterman, Y2K is the first book to fully reckon with the mixed legacy of the Y2K Era—a perfectly timed collection that holds a startling mirror to our past, present, and future.
"In this trenchant debut collection, millennial essayist Shade details how the social and economic convulsions of the "Y2K Era" (1997–2008) set the stage for the 21st century … The selections elegantly blend dark humor with thought-provoking arguments … A rich blend of cultural and economic analysis, this soars." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Shade scrutinizes and celebrates the new millennium with heart and a spicy sense of nostalgic humor…[She] particularly excels with an in-depth discussion on how the techno-optimistic ascension of the internet revolutionized politics, social intercourse, and our own individual self-perception…Shade's exploration of those indelible years creates a fun, fulfilling, and rewarding time capsule." —Kirkus Reviews
"A sharp, thoroughly researched look at the culture and politics of America in the early 2000s—with a thick coat of frosted lip gloss for good measure." —Rax King, author of Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer
"A hilarious, informative, and provocative look back at an era that promised so much yet delivered such a mixed legacy. If you wore butterfly hair clips, had a LiveJournal, and know all the words to Smashmouth's 'All Star' (or wish you did), Y2K is for you. Colette strikes the perfect balance of sharp critique, humor, and nostalgic reflection, making Y2K a must-read for any millennial." —Taylor Lorenz, bestselling author of Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet
This information about Y2K was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Colette Shade's work has appeared in The New Republic, The Baffler, Interview Magazine, The Nation, and Gawker. Y2K is her first book.
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