With compelling selections by some of the world's most respected and critically acclaimed writers, The New World Reader encourages us to explore some of the most significant global challenges of the 21st century. Complete with two portfolios of provocative images, including photo essays on global ideas of beauty and the clash of cultures, this reader addresses the challenges and consequences of globalization, changing roles of gender across cultural lines, conflicts among cultures, global poverty and global aid, and the fate of the global environment. Truly transnational, The New World Reader examines the influence and reactions of North American culture on the complex transformations of our changing globe. Book jacket.