Visual History of the World

In 275 glorious photographs Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places showcases every part of the world. Delving deeply into our century-old picture archive, our new book-the third in the "greatest photographs" series-presents the world's hugely diverse places with epic grandeur, unparalleled intimacy, romantic beauty, and gritty realism. The photographs are landscapes, cityscapes, famous landmarks, and unfamiliar spots that reveal special qualities of geography or culture we might otherwise never see.

National Geographic's quest since its founding in 1888 has been to describe "the world and all that's in it." To fulfill that quest, photographers set out to document every imaginable place on earth, from the most remote to the most familiar; from the most primitive to the most sophisticated. National Geographic photographers have recorded the world's places close up, in sweeping breadth, in depth, and over time. Wide Angle is divided into twelve chapters, each depicting a unique geography (see list below) and the culture and nature that inhabit it. Chapters are introduced by short, 1,500-word essays. The book's length-504 pages-allows us to develop each chapter to look carefully and deeply at a region's special qualities. The geography and the life within it comes forward with its own unique character, its own special and unforgettable sense of place.

AuEAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

AuOCEANIA

AuCENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIA

AuMIDDLE EAST

AuNORTHERN EUROPE

AuCENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

AuWESTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE

AuNORTH AFRICA

AuSUB-SAHARA AFRICA

AuNORTH AMERICA

AuTHE CARIBBEAN, MESO- AND SOUTH AMERICA

AuPOLAR REGIONS

Douglas Brinkley is director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies and professor of history at the University of New Orleans. Brinkley's recent publications include Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company and a Century of Progress and The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation with Stephen E. Ambrose. He lives in New Orleans with his wife, Anne, and daughter, Benton.