A lot can happen in 100 years

The start of a new year is always a time of reminiscing about the past. Here at 100 Years in America, I often broaden my focus more widely to include the past one-hundred years: how the world has changed and how my family's lives have changed within that world. Last year I found a newly-published non-fiction title that provided an interesting visual look at many changes that the world has seen over the past century.

Earth Then & Now: Amazing Images of our Changing World by Fred Pearce is a collection of images from various places throughout the globe. The appeal of the book is the fact that each image of a place as it looks today is paired with a companion photograph taken sometime back in the past one-hundred years. Pearce has chosen striking images that speak for themselves and, as he says, "are worth a thousand words". They include:

• Mostar's bridge in Bosnia-Herzegovina (of specific personal interest to me since I visited and crossed the bridge only a few years before it was damaged during the war)
• New York without the Twin Towers (I have memories of standing on the roof of my great-uncle's townhouse and seeing the beautiful view of New York City)
• Skye Bridge of Scotland (another place I've visited and enjoyed)
• Zermatt, Switzerland 1900 vs. today (a part of the world that has a special place in my heart)
• Panama Canal
• Seattle's "Hooverville" of 1937 vs. today
• Hong Kong: a barren Chinese Island in 1880 vs. today
• San Francisco 1906 vs. today
• Sao Paulo, Brazil 1902 vs. today
• Nepal kathmandu
• Vancouver
• South Dakota dust bowl vs. good farmland today
• Zugspitze, Bavaria 1925 vs. today
• Many more...

There are 300 before and after photographs within this book. It is a wonderful look at our world and its changes over the past one-hundred years.

If you like the idea of "past and present" photographs, you might also enjoy images of Legrad, Croatia's Holy Trinity Catholic Church in my article Međimurje: Meeting place of rivers and cultures and also past and present photos of the home my great-grandfather built at "The waves' rippling song": South Beach, Staten Island.