Brotherhood

As you are reading though the tribute to the fallen, you see thenamesof each of the lost Firefighters scrolled across the bottom of the pages. Each page left me more and more with a sense of loss. I did not lose anyone that fateful day, yet, we all lost. The words you read are quite moving, the pictures mean more than the words and poems. Yet i am most moved by the names of those precious and brave firefighters name across the pages from the front cover to the back cover.

This large and attractive book is a highly moving, pictorial tribute to the firefighters who lost their lives in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. The pictures, often as large as the pages, are in color and black-and-white, and were taken by more than sixty photographers. The pictures themselves are highly poignant, showing firefighters, fire stations and trucks, and the touching shrines that spontaneously sprouted up in front of fire stations across New York City.The text is small, and scattered throughout the book in the form of poems and messages. But, most moving of all is the list of firefighters, whose names run along the bottom of each page, from the front cover all the way to the back cover.This book is a wonderful and fitting tribute to the New York City firefighters, and moving book to read. A portion of the profits from the sales of this book goes to the FDNY charities, which makes this book an even better buy.

is the only way I can describe how I felt looking at the images in this beautiful book. God bless the men who made the ultimate sacrifice for others. This book is a breathtaking memoir on their heroism. Hopefully we will never forget

On October 19, 2001, my wife and I walked more than 50 blocks from downtown to mid-town Manhattan, stopping at each fire station along the way. Every stop had its own story to tell, without the need for eloquent prose or a "tour guide" leading the way, stating the obvious.Images of lost firefighters and burning candles were out front, with hand-scrawled tributes plastered on every available space, written by heart-broken individuals from throughout the country, and NOT just from New York.Of all books attempting to capture the flavor of a well-done tribute to ANY cause or group of individuals (in this case, the Fire Department of New York, now world-renown as FDNY), "Brotherhood" succeeds wonderfully in a way that SHOULD seem obvious to most, but apparently not, especially when compared to countless other "rush to market" though "well-intentioned" tributes of similar bent. "Brotherhood" follows a perfect, "by-the-dots" formula that all pure "tributes" should follow, at least in terms of composition and design. And that is, use minimal text and heart-wrenching images that speak a thousand words.Too often, creative teams associated with such efforts go overboard by stating the obvious, manipulating viewer or reader emotions unnecessarily with narration, captions or adjective-filled text to articulate the intangible. The result is a product, however well-intentioned, that is undercut by an over-zealousness to stamp into words, a generic and universal feeling when none are required.The cumulative effect of image after image -- of empty fire stations, burning candles, faces of those lost, notes written by children, flowers of every hue, empty boots marked by their owners -- is ultimately equal parts devastating and uplifting, without a trace of maudlin excess. Its understated presentation proves to be the best thing going for it.More than any other symbol, the fire stations of New York City offer the greatest lasting visible personification of courage, its inhabitants giving no thought of what the word itself means other than something that others (you and I) have attached to that innate sense of mission that seems to course through every firefighter's veins.With introductions by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (the only other major volume blessed with the Mayor's words is "One Nation," by the editors of Life Magazine, which by itself should be enough endorsement), Fire Commissioner Thomas Van Essen and Pulitzer-prize winning author Frank McCourt -- and supplemented by wonderful text absent of cheap sentiment by Tony Hendra -- "Brotherhood" offers a stark blend of prose and spectacular images that enable the reader to conjure his or her own personal set of emotions, without being sledge-hammered into being told how to feel. As a writer who prefers a mix of substance and tribute over tribute alone, I have surveyed more than 25 products associated with 9/11, and have learned AGAIN to never to judge a book by its cover or by liner notes alone. To dat

I purchased this book for my Firefighter husband. I know that, as a firefighter, he felt particularly helpless when this tragedy struck New York, and our country. I feel a great sense of pride in my husband's choice of occupation, and even more so that he is a Volunteer Firefighter. This book is a very moving tribute all of those (not just firefighters) that gave their lives on September 11th. The images contained are extraordinary, and all of us in the family that paged through it became very emotional when we read it. There are very few words, aside from the text written by the Mayor and Mr. McCourt, but the images leave very little need for them. And even more moving is the list of lost souls on the bottom of each page, which I felt assigned a lot more of a personal touch to this tragedy than just knowing the mere numbers of those lost while doing their jobs that day.I do in fact feel that 'Brotherhood' is a perfect title, because as anyone affiliated with rescue services can tell you, it is a large family. We ALL felt a great sense of loss that day, I think this book is the very LEAST we can do.