Earth Then and Now by Fred Pearce

Current photos of places around the world are printed side-by-side with earlier photos of the same location. The changes are due to such things as urbanization, war, forces of nature and climate change.

It is quite fascinating, even though most of the changes are depressing. Fishing ships rust on desert sand, 100 km from the current shore of the Aral Sea. This has happened because the two rivers that fed this inland sea have been diverted to irrigating fields of cotton. A few changes are nice to see, like the clearer air over Mexico City after 20 years of concerted effort to reduce smog.

There is just enough text to give context; most of this book is pictorial.