Y2K

A brilliantly provocative and entertaining essay collection about the Y2K era, the generation defining period that birthed everything from AOL Instant Messenger, the Hummer H2, bling era rap, and low-rise jeans, to McMansions, anti-Bush chain emails, Abu Ghraib, and the subprime mortgage crisis.

Auteur

Colette Shade’s work has appeared in The New Republic, The Baffler, Interview Magazine, The Nation, and Gawker. Y2K *is her first book.*

Texte du rabat

What was the Y2K Era and why are we still living in its shadow?THE EARLY 2000s were marked by a sense of both unbridled optimism and existential dread. It was a new millennium and the future had no limits. Technology was fun. For many it felt like the end of history; we solved all the big problems. No more wars, no more racism, no more sexism. But then history kept happening. In Y2K, one of our most brilliant young essayists Colette Shade offers a darkly funny meditation on everything from the pop culture to the political economy of the period. By zooming in on Y2K cultural artifacts like inflatable furniture, Starbucks, TRL, the rise of internet porn, and the collapse of the housing market, Shade produces an affectionate yet searing critique of an era 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 the course of 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 explores how post-9/11 hysteria curdled into a kitschy patriotic consumerism that warps our politics to this day. 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-an expertly timed, delightfully nostalgic, and bitingly told collection that holds a mirror to our past, present, and future.

Résumé

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.