In a colossal and controversial effort to dam the Yangtze, the world’s third longest river, China hopes to control destructive flooding and harness raw power. But the Three Gorges Dam, scheduled for 2009, will inundate cities, farms, and canyons and displace nearly two million people.

Opponents protest the environmental repercussions, but construction continues. Writer Arthur Zich travels a 400-mile (650-kilometer) stretch of the river to explore a region that will soon change forever. Photographs by Bob Sacha.

This historic highway has seen a convoy of travelers that spans 70 years: migrant workers, servicemen, truck drivers, tourists, the disillusioned, the adventurous. Whether the draw be whimsy or necessity, all experience a unique stretch of Americana that links the East to the West with strings of diners, desert landscapes, and colorful residents.

Photographer Vincent J. Musi—not wanting a car roof to impede his view—traveled in a rented purple convertible. Full-time writer and part-time wanderer David Lamb reminisces about the call of the road and “the melancholy exhilaration of being alone and rootless and going someplace, anyplace.”

Balloonist Steve Fossett was cruising in a jet stream above northern Africa when ground control faxed him a warning: “Libya permission denied!!!!!” Unable to enter Libya’s airspace, Fossett made plans for a detour. More warnings came from ground control: “Do not go below 10,000 feet (3,000 meters).... Do not land in Sudan. It is a tough place.” In a race for the last unclaimed aeronautical prize, Fossett and two other teams attempted to skirt the globe’s circumference nonstop by balloon. Story by Richard Conniff.

The city of Beirut was once Lebanon’s cosmopolitan capital, known for its culture, beaches, shopping, architecture, as well as for its intelligence, enlightenment, and energy. But a brutal 15-year civil war destroyed much of the city and dispirited its people. Since the war ended seven years ago, signs of renewal have been coming slowly. Still, the question remains: Can the spirit of the city and its people be restored? Writer Peter Theroux and photographer Ed Kashi reveal a city in flux.

Join our online forum, “Reconstruction Can’t Precede Freedom,” with Habib C. Malik, author of Between Damascus and Jerusalem: Lebanon and Middle East Peace.

Around 117,000 years ago in southern Africa an early member of our species, Homo sapiens, left footprints in a sand dune. The prints evoke controversial questions about our origins: Where did modern humans first arise? How did they live? And when did they begin thinking the way humans do today? Senior Assistant Editor Rick Gore and photographer Kenneth Garrett have worked together on the GEOGRAPHIC’s Dawn of Humans series, which chronicles the evolution of our ancestors.

Canada’s Inuit have been living off the Arctic tundra for 1,000 years, the last four decades under white dominance. Now the Inuit struggle to meld their traditional ways with new realities. Come April 1999, a new territory will be forged—Nunavut, “our land.” This change will return control of the land to its people, but Inuit leaders will also contend with daunting obstacles such as poverty, social ills, education, and governing. Author Michael Parfit traveled among Nunavut’s 28 towns to talk with residents about this uncertain venture. Photographs by Joanna B. Pinneo.

In 1921 George Leigh Mallory discovered the hulking mass of Everest and was entranced. “Suffice it to say,” Mallory wrote to his wife, “that it has the most steep ridges and appalling precipices that I have ever seen. I can’t tell you how it possesses me.” Later, Mallory would disappear into the clouds that laced the summit.

The lure of the mountain remains strong—and the death toll keeps climbing. Everest has claimed the lives of more than 150 people. Yet the risk only fuels the obsession of those intent on conquering the behemoth. Author David F. Breashears has received four Emmys for mountain filmmaking.

Join our online forum to discuss “The Spell of Everest” with Broughton Coburn, author of Everest: Mountain Without Mercy.