Decade

A successor to Phaidon's award-winning "Century: One Hundred Years of Human Progress, Suffering, Regression and Hope" (1999), "Decade" provides a comprehensive visual overview of the last 10 years in world history. Adhering to the same standards of historical accuracy and scholarship as its predecessor, this book offers a sensitive anthology of 10 years in photography that will appeal to readers of all ages and interests. "Decade" presents 500 engaging photographic images, both iconic and idiosyncratic, selected by acclaimed photo editor Eamonn McCabe and arranged in chronological order to tell the story of the first decade in our new millennium.

The shorter historical span of this book, compared to "Century", allows this sequence to explore more deeply developments in art, architecture, sport and technology, alongside key moments in international political affairs, so that the reader encounters surprising moments from our history alongside those familiar from coverage in the mass media. Global in scope, these photographs tackle subjects ranging from the World Trade Center attacks of '9/11' to the AIDS epidemic in Africa, from the first tests of the Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, to the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Award-winning documentary photography sits alongside the new 'citizen journalism', which has seen ordinary bystanders capture historic events equipped with nothing more sophisticated than a mobile phone camera.

Each image is accompanied by both a short descriptive and an extended, historical caption, to provide a wider context within which to understand these often beautiful, always surprising, photographs. 15 historical and thematic essays are also included, exploring the events, trends and social phenomena that have characterized the decade. Engaging with debates in photography, while providing a visual record of world events both regional and international, this book provides an extraordinary insight into our recent history - dramatic, nostalgic, intimate and educational by turns.

About The Authors

Dr Terence McNamee is Director of Publications at the Royal United Services Institute, an independent British think tank on issues of security and defence, and editor of its flagship publication, the RUSI Journal. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and was principal writer and historian of Phaidon's acclaimed photographic history, Century (1999). He writes regularly on foreign affairs for journals and newspapers worldwide.

Eamonn McCabe was named Sports Photographer of the Year four times between 1978 and 1984, before moving to the Guardian as picture editor in 1988. Director of picture coverage at the newspaper for 13 years, he went on to win Picture Editor of the Year five times. He continues to work as a professional photographer and his portraiture regularly appears in both the Observer and the Guardian.