COVER

Why History Can't Wait (Person Of The Year / Barack Obama)

Barack Obama is Person of the Year not just for what he's done but also for what he's moving quickly to do next

The Interview (The Interview)

In a chat with TIME editors, the President-elect looks into the future

B-Ball with Barack (Person Of The Year / Barack Obama)

Michelle Obama's brother reveals what basketball tells us about the 44th President

The Long-Lost Negatives (Person Of The Year / Exclusive)

In 1980 a handsome college freshman posed for a fellow student. Last winter the photographer went looking for her negatives. What she found is historic

The Six Degrees Of Obama (Person Of The Year)

What connects Barack Obama to every one of our previous Persons of the Year?

Photos: Obama On Flickr (Barack Obama)

He clicked with voters. They clicked at him. A citizens' gallery of the country's next President

Obama's Lucky Charms (Person Of The Year / Snapshot)

Voters everywhere gave him tokens of good fortune. A look at what was in his pockets

Henry Paulson (Person Of The Year / Runner-up)

When the financial system collapsed, we entrusted him with fixing it. Now he's the face of a crisis that Washington just can't solve

Nicolas Sarkozy (Runner-Up)

He is determined, unorthodox and energetic and has put his nation back on the map. Why France's President is a true leader

Sarah Palin (Person Of The Year / Runner-Up)

She stormed the political scene, stirred up the culture wars and left us struggling to figure out: What was that all about?

Zhang Yimou (Person Of The Year / Runner-Up)

The filmmaker who produced the Olympic ceremonies presented an awe-inspiring vision of China to the entire world

People Who Mattered 2008 (People Who Mattered | 2008)

Some of them made us angry. Some of them made us laugh. A couple of them made us shake our heads in disbelief. But all these people made a big impact this year and, most likely, well beyond

Fond Farewells

TIME's tribute to the people who left us this year and whose legacies won't be forgotten

TO OUR READERS

Person of the Year

Barack Obama, our choice for 2008, says his success comes from all of "you." So does this year's issue, drawn from the work of thousands

ESSAY

Listen to the Kids (Commentary)

In tough times like these, there is a profound comfort in the rituals that remind us what matters

WORLD

Postcard from Culiacán (Postcard: Culiacã¡n)

In Mexico's murder capital, Red Cross volunteers race from crime scene to crime scene trying to save lives--including their own. Stitching up bullet wounds in Mexico's drug war

Video: Drug War Ambulance

As a violent drug war rages in Culiacán, Mexico, the only ambulance in town is staffed by Red Cross volunteers, many of whom are in their teens

BRIEFING

LETTERS