Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far) (Dave Barry) - Putnam - 2007 - 208 pages

Dave Barry has written 45 books and a gazillion newspaper columns.  You may decide that you do not have the time to read all of these but you might want to read one or two of his better books.  My advice is to skip this one.  I am sure that this seemed like a great idea for a humor book in 1999 but obviously the whole thing was put on hold in 2001 when several terrorists attacked our country and we were not allowed to laugh about anything for a long time.  But Dave plugged along again in 2002 and did not stop until 2006 when he completed 200 pages.  As hard as he tried, unfunny things kept happening like that war in Iraq and that hurricane that devastated New Orleans.  However, the depressing events of 2001-2006 are not Mr. Barry's fault.  How was he to know that the government would be turned over to an arrogant, incompetent, paranoid boob (George W. Bush)?  This was a most difficult time for humor writers when the Bush administration was promoting torture, unauthorized wire-tapping, lies, outing CIA agents, fake news, the Patriot Act, tax cuts for the rich, and numerous financial shenanigans that brought the country to the brink of another great depression.  I think Dave realized that this was not a funny decade so he added "Y1K" at the front - 33 pages that are funnier than the 175 pages to follow.  Nice try, Dave. [JAM 7/27/2011]