Hope and Despair

By Richard Stengel / Managing Editor

I've been to Burma only once, in the late 1980s, and the seemingly placid surface of that exquisite nation hid the passions of a people who yearned for freedom. It was one of the world's forgotten tragedies, until, that is, Burma forced itself back into global consciousness last month when vivid images of protesting Buddhist monks slipped past the restrictions imposed by the country's repressive military regime. We published two quick news stories, but we also planned a bigger take, sending Bangkok-based writer Andrew Marshall into the country.

We knew Andrew would not be able to tell the full story until he had safely left Burma but that it would be worth the wait. For few foreigners know Burma as intimately as he, and nobody has written about it with more power. His book The Trouser People (Penguin; 2003) is the definitive account of modern Burmese society. Andrew arrived in Rangoon just in time to catch the uprising at its most optimistic: the monks had been joined by thousands of ordinary Burmese, infused with hope that they would get the junta to bend and perhaps break. Andrew joined the crowds, marveling at the courage and candor of the protesters. "After years of sneaking around this country," he says, "talking in whispers, always aware of the trouble I might cause the Burmese who dared speak to me, it was extraordinary to stand amid these euphoric crowds, openly conducting interviews."

The euphoria would not last, and Andrew was on hand to chronicle the junta's brutal crackdown. He was joined in Rangoon by our own James Nachtwey, the world's pre-eminent news photographer. If Andrew's story describes the ecstasy of the uprising and the agony of its failure, Nachtwey's haunting images capture Rangoon's somber mood as ordinary Burmese try to go back to their lives after the crackdown.

As we showcase the latest work of one world-class photojournalist, we remember another who is no longer with us. Alexandra Boulat, who passed away in Paris on Oct. 5, was frequently on assignment for Time. As fearless as she was talented, she covered wars in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, where she suffered a brain aneurysm last June. She had a gift for capturing the condition of societies, especially women, caught in bloody conflicts. I particularly recommend her multimedia piece on Palestinian rappers and her powerful first-person account of a riveting photo-essay from Gaza--both are available at time.com/boulat