  We present a calculation of the differential two jet cross section in e^+e^-
annihilation through next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling
constant alpha_s. The calculation is performed using a new method for dealing
with real radiation suggested by us recently. For the first time, the two jet
event rate is computed directly, without any reference to the inclusive
cross-section e^+e^- to hadrons. We also calculate the energy distribution of
the leading jet in e^+e^- to 2 jets, and find significant modifications of the
shape of this distribution at NNLO.
