Decade

McCabe, photographer and former photo editor of the Guardian in London, selects the 500 most culturally significant photographs of the past decade, juxtaposing the worlds of politics, pop culture, sports, and global events. The sequence alternates between anonymous figures and crowds (the luminous faces of hijab-clad Iranian girls waiting for their mothers to cast votes) and celebrities (Yves Saint Laurent pausing for lunch the day before his last runway show). In his opening essay, Jonathon Porritt writes: "[I]t's hard to be particularly optimistic" about this decade, and, the images agree: the toll of violence, disease, and environmental damage has been staggering. However, amid strife and suffering, McCabe's focus is really on the individual, from Obama catching a moment's rest on the campaign trail to a girl running through a library ruined by a cyclone in Burma. While this comprehensive collection covers all the expected major events, the most memorable photographs are the ones that seem the least spectacular, the small moments and individuals caught in history unfolding: (a "dazed survivor" of a suicide bomb detonated in Pakistan, a Lehman Brothers employee on the phone with his family after the announcement of the bank's collapse). (Oct.)