No century was more trumpeted, advertised, analyzed, and anticipated before it began than the twenty-first. Five years into the new millennium, what can we say about the state of our world? Have the great issues that preoccupied people since the beginning of time taken new, distinctive forms after more than a hundred years of the fastest technological and cultural change in the history of the planet? What challenges remain intractable? What emerging solutions seem to offer the greatest promise?

Drawing on the resources of the world's largest international text and television news agency, this book explores the questions all humans ask: What roles do religion and our deepest beliefs play in contemporary life? What lifestyles are we adopting in an increasingly technological world? What is the balance of power—and the balance of trade? What is the pattern of war and peace? What are the issues facing local and regional communities, and what issues must we confront on a global scale? What do we remember about our collective past, and how do we see the future? Over 350 color images accompanying the text.