The Ten-Year Century

September 13, 2010
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.

May 1, 2011

Gr 7-10-Sutherland's focus is clearly on politics, providing in-depth descriptions of the various campaigns and elections that have occurred over the last 10 years, including the Gore vs. Bush election and the wrangling that followed in Florida, ending with the Supreme Court decision. Details about September 11th, the wars that followed, and important players of the decade are all included. References to pop culture or social phenomena are mostly in passing. Lengthy descriptions are sometimes repetitive. However, the writing is accessible and readers will detect no real bias or agenda. The captioned stock photographs do little to enhance the text. Detailed source notes and a lengthy bibliography are included. While not providing any new information, this volume could be a solid choice for libraries looking to have some of recent history available to students.-Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2010
Grades 7-10 Set on explaining the past decade to readers who lived through it but may have been too young to take a broad view, Sutherland retraces in annual summaries the major events between the worldwide New Years Eve celebrations in 1999 and the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas of 2009. Along with admitting at the outset that he is writing from an American viewpoint about very recent incidents that may well gain or lose historical significance as time goes on, he reveals a personal perspective in the themes he assigns to each chapter: 2003 is Mission Accomplished, for instance; 2004 has Truthiness; and 2009 gets Is Compromise a Dirty Word? He focuses almost exclusively on this countrys politics and wars, relegating with but a handful of exceptions any notice of cultural or scientific milestones to a paragraph or two of scattered references opening each chapter. Still, these readable essays, capped with an extensive list of sources, will give readers an accurate and comprehensible, if selective, view of the past decades public affairs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)