Thursday, March 20, 2008


"What really matters to the world? What matters to me? What is most
vital and urgent? The answers are in this extraordinary and moving book."

— Isabel Allende



WELCOME TO THE WHAT MATTERS BLOG

What Matters, created by New York Times bestselling author/editor David Elliot Cohen, will be published by Sterling Publishing in September 2008. What Matters contains 18 searing, socially conscious photo-essays by the great photojournalists of our generation including Sebastiao Salgado and James Nachtwey. These essays, shot over the course of years, address essential issues of our time.

Each photo-essay is accompanied by a passionate, polemical essay written a well-known expert such as Jeffrey Sachs (The End of Poverty), Samantha Power (Pulitzer Prize winner for A Problem From Hell: America in the Age of Genocide) and Bill McKibben (The End of Nature). It also contains a "What You Can Do" section… so you can help. What Matters is, in effect, a 336-page illustrated letter to the next US president, graphically setting forth 18 crucial yet curable issues that demand our attention now.

For a limited time, you may download a free advance copy of What Matters to your desktop in .pdf form. Just click the first link below.


• DOWNLOAD A FREE COMPLETE ADVANCE COPY OF WHAT MATTERS TO YOUR DESKTOP:


• PRE-ORDER A WHAT MATTERS BOOK (SHIPS AND BILLS IN SEPTEMBER) :
What Matters at Amazon.com

• DOWNLOAD A BIO OF DAVID ELLIOT COHEN TO YOUR DESKTOP:


• LINK TO MAJOR MEDIA COVERAGE OF PREVIOUS BOOKS BY DAVID ELLIOT COHEN:


Cover Photograph ©2008 by Gary Braasch. All rights reserved.


WHAT MATTERS CONTENTS & CONTRIBUTORS


Introduction: Photographs That Can Change the World

Photographs by Mathew Brady, Lewis Hine, Jacob Riis, Eddie Adams
and Joe Rosenthal

Written by David Elliot Cohen, creator, What Matters

A four-year-old girl in Ghana walks four kilometers (2.5 miles) twice every day to
fetch water for her family. Photo © 2008 by Brent Stirton. All rights reserved.


MAN vs. EARTH


1. Meltdown: A Global Warming Travelogue

Photographed by Gary Braasch, Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography

Written by Bill McKibben, Scholar-in-residence, Middlebury College


2. Economic Miracle, Environmental Disaster: The Huai River Basin

Photographed by Stephen Voss

Written by Elizabeth C. Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow & Director for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations


3. Thirsty World: The Desperate Everyday Quest for Safe Water

Photographed by Brent Stirton, World Press Photo Foundation Award

Written by Peter H. Gleick, The Pacific Institute


4. Fallout: The Enduring Tragedy of Chernobyl

Photographed by Gerd Ludwig, International Photography Assoc. 2006
Photographer of the Year

Written by David R. Marples, University Professor of History and Classics, University of Alberta





Refugees flee across the Darfur desert toward the Chad border.
Photo © 2008 by Marcus Bleasdale. All rights reserved.



MAN vs. MAN


5. Images of Genocide: How Should We Respond?

Photographed by Magnum

Written by Omer Bartov, John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History, Brown University


6. The Scorched Earth of Darfur: The 21st Century's First Genocide

Photographed by Marcus Bleasdale, 2004 UNICEF Photographer of the Year

Written by Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University & John Prendergast, Cochair, Enough Project


7. Global Jihad: Before and After 9/11

Photographed by The Associated Press, 30 Pulitzer Prizes in Photography

Written by Fawaz A. Gerges, Christian A. Johnson Chair in Muslim Politics and International Affairs, Sarah Lawrence College


8. Bitter Fruit: Behind the Scenes, America Buries Its Iraq War Dead

Photographed by Paul Fusco

Written by Gary Kamiya, Writer-at-large, Salon.com






Eight-year-old Sathi works 11-hour days in a battery recycling shop near
Dacca, Bangladesh. Toxic carbon dust covers her face.
Photo © 2008 by Shehzad Noorani. All rights reserved.



THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH


9. The Bottom Billion: How We Can End Global Poverty

Photographed by James Nachtwey, Six National Press Photographer Association Photographer of the Year Awards

Written by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute & Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, Columbia University


10. Shop 'Til We Drop: Consumer Culture in the New Gilded Age

Photographed by Lauren Greenfield, Emmy-Nominated Best Documentary Director

Written by Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College


11. Children of the Black Dust: Child Labor in Bangladesh

Photographed and written by Shehzad Noorani, Mother Jones international documentary photography award


12. Lost Girls: The Child Brides of Afghanistan, Nepal, and Ethiopia

Photographed by Stephanie Sinclair, 2007 UNICEF Photographer of the Year

Written by Judith Bruce, Senior Associate and Policy Analyst, The Population Council's Poverty, Gender and Youth Program


13. The Price of Our Oil Addiction: Scenes from the Niger River Delta

Photographed by Ed Kashi, World Press Photo Prize

Written by Michael Watts, Chancellor's Professor of Geography & Development Studies; Director, the Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley


14. The Greatest Migration: The Third World Moves to the City

Photographed by Sebastiao Salgado, International Center of Photography Photojournalist of the Year; Eugene Smith Award

Written by Paul Knox, University Distinguished Professor and Senior Fellow for International Advancement, Virginia Tech


15. The Fence: Deconstructing America's "Immigration Crisis"

Photographed by Anthony Suau, Pulitzer Prize in Photography

Written by Douglas S. Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and
Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University





The Mora people of Amazonian Peru wear a natural mosquito repellent that stains the skin and protects
them from malaria. Photo © 2008 by Maggie Hallahan. All rights reserved.



MAN VS. DISEASE


16. Infected or Affected: AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Photographed by Tom Stoddart, Nikon Press Photographer of the Year Award

Written by Helen Epstein, author, The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS


17. The End of Malaria? Rolling Back a Killer

Photographed by Maggie Hallahan

Written by Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director, Roll Back Malaria Partnership


18. What One Person Can Do: The Amazing Life of Abdul Sattar Edhi

Photographed by Shahidul Alam

Written by Richard Covington





In the post-op department of the Children's Cardiological Center in Minsk, Belarus, doctors repair
a birth defect often called "Chernobyl Heart." In the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster,
only 15-20 percent of local babies are born healthy. Photo © 2008 by Gerd Ludwig. All rights reserved.


WHAT YOU CAN DO

193 Ways To Learn More and Get Involved





What Matters was designed by Lori Barra with help from Margaret Swart and Sarah Kessler, copyedited by Sherri Schultz, proofread by Sharon Vonasch, and indexed by Nanette Cardon. Our associate producer is Heather King. Our editorial assistant is Rose Whitmore. Color management by Peter Truskier, Premedia Systems.

Thanks to: FiftyCrows Foundation, LiveBooks, The Pedro Meyer Foundation, Phanfare, Talking Eyes Media and The Isabel Allende Foundation for their support.



DOWNLOAD A FREE COMPLETE ADVANCE COPY OF WHAT MATTERS HERE:


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