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WORLD Covers
1986—present

When WORLD debuted in 1986, balancing federal budgets and deficit reduction schemes consumed the political arena—and print real estate—then as now. The March 17, 1986, cover story was on the now quaint Gramm-Rudman bill, a piece of then path-breaking legislation to constrain federal spending. Our own financial constraints saw WORLD move to newsprint—and 16 pages per week—for a time before again growing to the full-color biweekly editions that more than a quarter-century later often run more than 100 pages (plus now online, iPad, and Kindle versions).

"It's easy in launching a new magazine," wrote founder Joel Belz in that first issue, "to be infected with triumphalism and a sense of self-importance. Most of your neighbors, you know, have never started a new magazine." But a patient and loyal readership—plus enough famine, persecution, danger, and sword—have kept our small staff busy and our pages (and cups) overflowing.

For more on WORLD's history, read articles from our 20th anniversary issue published in 2006.