Act One: A Century in the Making

Act One: A Century in the Making is a landmark photographic and cultural portrait of the first quarter of the 21st century, bringing together more than 100 internationally recognized photographers and original essays by leading scholars, journalists, historians, and public intellectuals.

Spanning more than 700 pages, the book examines the forces, events, and lived experiences that have shaped the contemporary world. Through powerful photography and critical reflection, Act One explores climate change, public health, human rights, deindustrialization, democracy, race in America, war and conflict, globalization, geopolitics, and technology—offering a sweeping portrait of a century still in the making.

Each chapter opens with an original essay that provides historical context, analysis, and perspective before giving way to carefully curated photographic narratives. Together, image and text create a dialogue between global events and personal experience, revealing how large-scale political, environmental, social, and technological transformations are lived by individuals and communities around the world.

Contributors include Pulitzer Prize winners, Guggenheim Fellows, Fulbright Scholars, recipients of the W. Eugene Smith Grant, National Endowment for the Arts grantees, and many of the most influential photographers working today. Their photographs are joined by essays from leading voices in fields including history, journalism, public health, human rights, technology, climate science, race, democracy, and international affairs.

Rather than offering a single narrative, Act One embraces complexity. It moves between conflict zones and classrooms, hospitals and courtrooms, factories and neighborhoods, landscapes transformed by climate change and societies reshaped by technology. The result is a multifaceted portrait of a world undergoing profound change.

At once a photography book, a work of contemporary history, and a reflection on the defining issues of our time, Act One: A Century in the Making invites readers to consider not only what has happened during the opening decades of the century, but how those events continue to shape the future.

Published in conjunction with a major exhibition, Act One stands as an ambitious record of our era and a testament to the enduring power of photography to help us understand the world and our place within it.