Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer James Hill of The New York Times tells the stories behind fifty of his photographs, describing the artistic and emotional choices formed by the intense kaleidoscope of those experiences. From the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the Royal Wedding in 2011, from taking the first portrait of the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout to the death of Pope John Paul II, Hill has witnessed some of recent history's most poignant moments. His accounts evoke the complicated balance between professional detachment and personal involvement and reflect on the weight of watching history in its extremes.