TIME.com

PERSON OF THE YEAR To capture Rudy Giuliani bestriding his beloved, altered skyline, photographer Gregory Heisler--who has shot seven previous People of the Year--wanted to set up on the roof of Rockefeller Center's General Electric Building. Unfortunately, the roof has been closed for years, insurance problems proliferated, and the weather would not cooperate. Heisler, at left, in hat, finally prevailed and built a wooden platform leading to a ledge hundreds of feet above the street. "Some of the mayor's security people were nervous for him," says Heisler. "But he just yelled, 'Wow!' and bounded up to hit his mark."

OLD ACQUAINTANCE

TIME Nation editor Eric Pooley--who, to prepare for writing the POY cover story, talked with Giuliani for hours, toured ground zero with him and flew with him to Israel--also tracked him in the early '90s for New York magazine. Back then, Pooley says, "he had incomparable brains and brass, but there were big questions about his heart and soul. But what happened was that his cancer and Sept. 11 were events of such magnitude that they allowed him to show the fullness of himself." To chat with Eric about Giuliani on AOL, go to Keyword: Live, on Wednesday, Dec. 26, at 8 p.m. E.T.

INSIDERS' INSIDERS

White House correspondents James Carney and John F. Dickerson believe their subject, President George W. Bush, experienced growth similar to Giuliani's. Says Dickerson: "His confidence used to come off as swagger." But nowadays "he's very matter-of-fact, and the confidence is real." Carney marvels at the access that enabled TIME's team to record key moments as the war progressed through the fall. "Usually when you cover the White House, you know about 10% of what's going on," he says. "This time we got much closer to the truth."

POYS OVER THE YEARS READ HISTORY UNFOLD

TIME.com's Person of the Year package features not only Giuliani but also every other POY since 1927, when Charles Lindbergh was selected as the first. What you'll find is not history rewritten but history as it was written: the original text from each cover story. Experience the tension in 1938, when Adolf Hitler redrew the map of Europe, and the optimism in 1944, when Dwight Eisenhower played a key role in what Time promised was "the last full year" of World War II. Go to time.com/poy2001

9/11 SPECIAL ISSUE TIME CAPSULE

This week's POY issue is in a sense a bookend to TIME's special Sept. 11 issue, which was put out just 36 hours after the horrific events of that day. Its cover is the only one in TIME's history to bear a black border. The issue still has the power and immediacy to evoke the emotions of Sept. 11. See it at time.com/yit2001

MAPS AND GRAPHICS DRAWING THE LINES OF WAR

The conflict in Afghanistan put Americans in sometimes perplexingly unfamiliar territory. But TIME's vivid series of maps and graphics has given readers clear and detailed guides to all the action, whether in the caves of Tora Bora or in the arcane financial networks of al-Qaeda. You can find all those maps and graphics, with added interactive elements, at time.com/interactives