Photo Essay

Engineering Terror

Ten notorious attacks attributed to Hezbollah's shadowy mastermind.

BY MARYA HANNUN | MAY/JUNE 2013

Once Upon a Time in Pyongyang

Rare images of Korea before the Kims.

BY MARYA HANNUN | APRIL 17, 2013

Once Upon a Time in Baghdad

71 years before the war that nearly destroyed it.

BY MARYA HANNUN | MARCH 18, 2013

The One Thing

The one item Syrian refugees made sure to grab before leaving home.

BY BRIAN SOKOL | MARCH 12, 2013

Stopping a Madman

A year after the Kony 2012 campaign became a viral sensation, war correspondent David Axe and illustrator Tim Hamilton capture the long, dysfunctional crusade to take down Joseph Kony in graphic-journalism form.

BY DAVID AXE, TIM HAMILTON | MARCH 7, 2013

Good News from the Hindu Kush

How Afghanistan has changed for the better after more than a decade of war.

BY ELIZABETH F. RALPH | MARCH 4, 2013

New Heights

What self-portraits atop skyscrapers can tell us about today's cities.

BY AHN JUN | MARCH 4, 2013

The Legion of Real-Life Supervillains

What if the world's most notorious villains -- real and imagined -- teamed up?

Illustrations by BILY MARIANO DA LUZ | FEBRUARY 21, 2013

The Politics of Qat

How one plant explains Yemen's dysfunction.

BY PEER GATTER | FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Once Upon a Time in Seoul

Remarkable images of South Korea, before Samsung and PSY.

BY ALICIA P.Q. WITTMEYER | FEBRUARY 1, 2013

La Frontera

Weaving above, below, and across the U.S.-Mexico border over the course of a year, a photographer captures the violence and trauma of a deadly drug war and those caught in its crossfire.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LOUIE PALU | JANUARY 2, 2013

My Enemy, Myself

Who's your enemy? Why fight? Over the course of three years, Belgian-Tunisian photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa has traveled to both sides of the world's longest-simmering conflicts to ask these pointed questions. What he heard from combatants in the Gaza Strip, the disputed Kashmir region along the India-Pakistan border, and tribally divided South Sudan captures the futility of wars that never end -- and can't be won. Tragically, bitter rivals are often fighting for the very same reasons.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KARIM BEN KHELIFA | JANUARY 2, 2013

Instagramming Iran

Touring the Islamic Republic through the one social network it hasn't cracked down on yet.

BY HOLLY DAGRES | DECEMBER 20, 2012

A Yemen Built for Two?

In their quest to unify the country after the Arab Spring, Yemen's new leaders are confronting a major obstacle: calls for secession.

BY LUKE SOMERS | DECEMBER 7, 2012

Vanishing Shanghai

Meet the people left behind amid the boom in China's largest city.

BY HOWARD W. FRENCH | OCTOBER 15, 2012

Like Every Day

Shadi Ghadirian's unique take on the inner lives of Iranian women.

NOVEMBER 2012

Golden Buddha, Hidden Copper

Twelve years after the Taliban blew up the world-famous Bamiyan Buddhas, a Chinese mining firm -- developing one of the world's largest copper deposits -- threatens to destroy another of Afghanistan's archeological treasures.

BY LOIS PARSHLEY | SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

Children of War

Why we need a code of conduct for images of kids in conflict zones.

BY JAMES THOMAS SNYDER | JULY 27, 2012

Rumble in the Jungle

As Brazil takes the lead in bringing infrastructure development to South America, indigenous communities are fighting for their way of life.

BY NOAH FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY | JULY 20, 2012

Life Inside Little America in Afghanistan

Photos from a time when tiki bars and afternoons at the pool dominated the lives of Americans in Afghanistan.

BY RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN | JUNE 26, 2012

Postcards from Hell, 2012

What does living in a failed state look like? A tour through the world’s 60 most fragile countries.

JUNE 18, 2012

War Dogs of the World

Four paws. One mission.

BY REBECCA FRANKEL | APRIL 27, 2012

Obama’s Shadow Wars

Missile-wielding drones and elite Special Forces units are the new face of American power, and the White House is increasingly relying on them to fight terror in the farthest corners of the globe.

MARCH/APRIL 2012

Drones: A Photo History

We think of drones as a modern invention, but they've been part of warfare for longer than you think. Here's a look at the evolution of drones and the way they've changed how war works.

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Portraits of a Massacre Foretold

A ground-level view of the Syrian regime's assault on Homs.

BY MULHAM AL-JUNDI | FEBRUARY 22, 2012

Once Upon a Time in Tehran

Photos of a swinging Iran when the skirts were short, the dance was the twist, and America wasn't Enemy No. 1.

BY CARA PARKS | FEBRUARY 15, 2012

Winter's Palace

Photos of China's technicolor frozen wonderland.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JONATHAN BROWNING | FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Yemen's State Within a Failed State

A rare journey to the rugged province of Saada, the battle-torn region that has fallen out of the government's control during the past year.

PHOTOS BY TOM FINN | JANUARY 27, 2012

Haiti, 2 Years Later

A visit to the sites of the most iconic pictures of Haiti's 2010 earthquake to see what has -- and hasn't -- been reconstructed two years later.

BY BEN DEPP | JANUARY 13, 2012

The Best Covers of 2011

Our favorites from the past year. 

DECEMBER 31, 2011