What matters : the world's preeminent photojournalists and thinkers depict essential issues of our time / created by David Elliot Cohen.

Includes index.

Introduction: Photographs that can change the world / by David Elliot Cohen -- MAN VS. EARTH. Meltdown : a global warming travelogue / photographed by Cary Braasch ; written by Bill McKibben -- Economic miracle, environmental disaster : the degradation of the Huai River Basin / photographed by Stephen Voss ; written by Elizabeth C. Economy -- Thirsty world : the desperate everyday quest for safe water / photographed by Brent Stirton ; written by Peter H. Gleick -- Fallout : the enduring tragedy of Chernobyl / photographed by Gerd Ludwig ; written by David R. Marples -- MAN VS. MAN. Images of genocide : how should we respond? / photographed by Magnum ; written by Omer Bartov -- The scorched earth of Darfur : the twenty-first century's first genocide / photographed by Marcus Bleasdale ; cowritten by Samantha Power and John Prendergast -- Global jihad : before and after 9/11 / photographed by The Associated Press ; written by Fawaz A. Gerges -- Bitter fruit : behind the scenes, America buries its Iraq War dead / photographed by Paul Fusco ; written by Gary Kamiya -- THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. The bottom billion : how we can end global poverty / photographed by James Nachtwey ; written by Jeffrey D. Sachs -- Shop 'til we drop : consumer culture in the new gilded age / photographed by Lauren Greenfield ; written by Juliet B. Schor -- Children of the black dust : child labor in Bangladesh / photographed and written by Shehzad Noorani -- Lost girls : the child brides of Afghanistan, Nepal and Ethiopia / photographed by Stephanie Sinclair ; written by Judith Bruce -- The price of our oil addiction : scenes from the Niger river delta / photographed by Ed Kashi ; written by Michael Watts -- The greatest migration : the Third World moves to the city / photographed by Sebastião Salgado ; written by Paul Knox -- The fence : deconstructing America's "immigration crisis" / photographed by Anthony Suau ; written by Douglas S. Massey -- MAN VS. DISEASE -- Infected or affected : curing AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa / photographed by Tom Stoddart ; written by Helen Epstein -- The end of malaria? : rolling back a killer / photographed by Maggie Hallahan ; written by Awa Marie Coll-Seck -- What one person can do : the amazing life of Abdul Sattar Edhi / photographed by Shahidul Alam ; written by Richard Covington -- What you can do : 193 ways to learn more and get involved.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 324-330) and index.

Contains eighteen photoessays in which photojournalists investigate some of the most important issues confronting the world in the early twenty-first century, including climate change, AIDS, environmental degradation, and genocide, and includes commentary, resources, Web links, and suggestions on how to become involved.