Dive into the Y2K era with Colette Shade’s “Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything – Essays on the Future That Never Was.” This collection brilliantly unpacks the pivotal 2000s, an era that gave us everything from AOL Instant Messenger and low-rise jeans to the subprime mortgage crisis. Shade offers a darkly funny and incisive look at the cultural artifacts, political economy, and unbridled optimism that defined the turn of the millennium. Explore how pop culture, celebrity tabloids, and the rise of the internet shaped a generation’s experiences, from sexual awakening to consumerism. Perfect for fans of Joan Didion and Jia Tolentino, this book provides a timely and personal exploration of millennial optimism’s final days. Discover the past that shaped our present in this must-read essay collection from The Bookish Owl.