Year in Pictures: 2001

September:
The stories that made it out of the World Trade Center Sept. 11 seemed populated with only victims and heroes — from the firemen that rushed up stairs while everyone else rushed down, to the salarymen who pushed, pulled and carried each other out of the inferno to safety, to the rescue workers who fought the still-fresh wreckage to salvage a handful more human lives. As days went by, the "rescue" quickly became a gravedig, but the heroics of the hour remain a proud counterpoint to an unimaginable tragedy.

• Photos: Remembering 9/11: Evolution of Ground Zero