The Ten-Year Century: Explaining the First Decade of the New Millennium Book

Remember worrying about the Y2K bug in 1999? Or life before Twitter? Ten years ago, September 11 was just another day, Facebook didn't exist, and Barack Obama was a little-known state senator. Some have called the jam-packed first decade of the new millennium the "ten-year century" for all of the history-making, life-changing developments it's contained.

Now, James Sutherland explores these influential years for the audience that's grown up in it, putting history in context and explaining how the world is smaller, faster, and more connected than it's ever been—and why it matters.

Publishers Weekly

This overview of the first 10 years of the new millennium focuses on significant developments that have shaped life in the United States today. Former political reporter Sutherland (Up Close: Ronald Reagan) begins each section with a synopsis of trends in popular culture and newsworthy events (such as the creation of Facebook and destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003), before discussing specific topics, which range from the voter recount during the 2000 election to September 11, the war in Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina. After addressing the prevailing pessimism as a result of the current economy, Sutherland ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that solutions come from "learning about the world and always trying to understand the times we live in." The lucid, balanced narration results in a nuanced representation of a rapidly changing era. Ages 12 up. (Oct.)