The past 20 years, in 20 striking photos

Jacob Lambert's avatar
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Published
September 11.

This article is part of The Week's 20th anniversary section, looking back at how the world has changed since our first issue was published in April 2001.

Firefighters walk towards the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in New York City.
(Image credit: (Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images, September 2001))

President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat operations in Iraq aboard an aircraft carrier off the California coast.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File, May 2003))

A tsunami survivor looks for her belongings amid debris in Nagapattinam, India.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Arko Datta, January 2005))

People stranded on a roof due to flood waters from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
(Image credit: (AFP PHOTO/POOL/Vincent Laforet, August 2005))

Lehman Brothers staff gathered in its London offices amid the firm's looming bankruptcy.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Kevin Coombs, September 2008))

The Obama family on election night in Chicago.
(Image credit: (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images, November 2008))

Protesters during an early tea party demonstration in Washington, DC.
(Image credit: (KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images, April 2009))

Army soldiers shield their eyes from the rotor wash of a cargo helicopter in Paktika Province, Afghanistan.
(Image credit: (Chris Hondros/Getty Images, October 2009))

A roller coaster sits in the Atlantic Ocean after Superstorm Sandy struck Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
(Image credit: (Mark Wilson/Getty Images, November 2012))

27 angel cut-outs memorialize victims of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
(Image credit: (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images, December 2012))

A runner reacts after the Boston Marathon bombing.
(Image credit: (Alex Trautwig/Getty Images, April 2013))

The White House is illuminated in rainbow colors after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Gary Cameron, June 2015))

A Tokyo Electric Power Co. employee walks in front of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Japan.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Toru Hanai, February 2016))

A boy waits with his mother and others for aid after leaving an Islamic State caliphate, in Deir Al Zor, Syria.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Rodi Said, March 2019))

Pro-Brexit placards in London.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Hannah McKay, October 2019))

Workers prepare to spray disinfectant at a railway station amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China.
(Image credit: (STR/AFP via Getty Images, March 2020))

Protestors march after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
(Image credit: (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images, May 2020))

Donald Trump debates Joe Biden in Nashville.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Jim Bourg/Pool, October 2020))

Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar, January 2021)**See last week's best photojournalism**)

Jacob Lambert
Jacob Lambert

Jacob Lambert is the art director of TheWeek.com. He was previously an editor at MAD magazine, and has written and illustrated for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Weekly, and The Millions.