A decade ago, Nelson Mandela became president in South Africa's first multi-racial democratic election. Mandela's journey, from freedom fighter to president, capped a dramatic half-century long struggle against white rule and the institution of apartheid.

The '60s were a time of social movements and big changes, but a quieter revolution was underway too -- one led by a few middle-aged women who wanted to change our way of death. They were the founders of the hospice movement.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But Marshall had already earned a place in history, as the leader of an extraordinary legal campaign against racial segregation in America.

In April 1994, the central African nation of Rwanda exploded into 100 days of violence, killing 800,000 people. Most turned their backs to the bloodshed. Here is the story of those who stayed.

The end of major combat in Iraq did not bring an end to the fighting. American troops trying to rebuild the country found themselves surrounded by unknown dangers and escalating hostility from Iraqis whom they once viewed with sympathy. American RadioWorks asked medics with the Army's 101st airborne division stationed in Mosul, Iraq to record their impressions of the situation unfolding around them. The recording was made in December 2003 shortly before they returned to their base in Fort Cambell, Kentucky. Their story, along with a follow-up interview, aired on The World in April 2004.

In 1927, Iran developed a legal code doing away with gruesome Islamic punishments such as stoning and lashing. That all changed during the Islamic revolution of 1979. NPR Producer Davar Ardalan and co-producer Rasool Nafisi look at Iran's long search for a lawful society.

Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon left hundreds of hours of secretly taped telephone conversations. What can these tapes tell us about the presidency and the individuals that hold the office?

The newest voting machine technology may do little to lessen voter disenfranchisement or fraud, and it will do nothing for those that have lost the right to vote.

Even after the fall of Baghdad, the U.S. is still fighting.

Examine the often-overlooked war that helped define global politics and American life for the second half of the 20th century.