Although Maine is the largest of the New England states, it is still relatively small—ranking 39th in area. It remains a state with a low population density, at just about 1.3 million residents, mostly living near the southern coast. From its wooded interior to its rocky shoreline, here are a few glimpses of the landscape of Maine and some of the wildlife and people calling it home.This photo story is part of Fifty, a collection of images from each of the United States.

“The past is for most Americans, unfortunately, rather meaningless,” said the poet Robert Hayden in 1976. “But some of us are aware of it as a long, tortuous, and often bloody process of becoming.

Two months ago, the world experienced a historic collapse in oil prices, as coronavirus-related shutdowns cratered global demand, briefly turning prices for May delivery negative. Prices have since rebounded modestly, but they remain unsustainably low for countries that depend on oil exports to generate government revenue.The resulting instability, from the Middle East to Africa to the Americas, raises a flurry of immediate national-security concerns.

Growing up, I wanted to work in law enforcement. Actually, what I wanted was based on a television franchise I began watching as a teenager: Law & Order. Dick Wolf’s world of procedural crime dramas, the good guys working via the legal system to catch the bad, mesmerized me throughout high school and into college. In particular, I fell in love with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, following Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler as they brought criminals to justice.

On Monday, President Donald Trump extended a near-total ban that he had first announced in April on entry into the United States by immigrants seeking “green cards” for permanent residency. This policy is the most sweeping ban on immigration in American history. Even during earlier crises, such as the Great Depression, the two world wars, and the horrific flu pandemic of 1918–19, the U.S.