September 11: An Oral History

Out of all of the information that I have read about September 11th, this by far was the most powerful collection of accounts I have ever read. Though it contained no photographs, the detailed accounts were nightmarish enough where physical images could not describe. It was such a challenge for me to read, I was relieved when I finished the book. This book had me on the edge of my seat! Some of the accounts were very disturbing and raised my stress levels. I had to take breaks from the book, I am not trying to overexaggerate, it was that intense. I am happy that it was a collection of perspectives from everyone: people in the Twin Towers, people in the Pentagon, people in different parts of the world. This is definitely a book to have in a 9/11 collection. It is an excellent teaching tool.

This book had me in tears. I could smell the jet fuel, smoke, fear. Whom ever edited this book did the book justice. Wonderful and tragic. Applause for it.

The book is presented as a series of short recollections by people of all walks of life; from an immigrant on his first day on the job, to executives making decisions that would save their lives. There are many stories relating unfathomable horrors wiped away by the collapse of the towers. However, most stories are about the strength of the will to survive, the bond we share that allow us to care for perfect strangers, and amazing luck. Unfiltered, raw, and a fosters an appreciation for life.

I found that this book provided a sense of what really happened than what I saw on T.V. While the news gave you all the facts and data, this author wrote interviews he took from people who were actually in the WTC, Pentagon, and those in surronding buildings. After reading this I finally had a sense of how people reacted during the horrific events.

This book tells the personal stories of a variety of people in New York, young and old, at the time the planes hit the World Trade Center. Each story is three to four pages long, which makes for easy reading. Each is well written and filled with emotion. I was truly on the edge of my seat reading some of these stories, even though I knew the end of their story (obviously they survived to tell about it). Why isn't this a best-seller?

This book is better, if only for hitting precisely the right tone for me as a reader, than the couple of other "oral history" volumes I have read on this subject. It is the opposite of commercial writing or wham-bam journalism: it has the serious purpose and tone of sensitive, well-written fiction. The stories in this particular book have become the "real" September 11, 2001 to me as a distant observer, that is, the virtual physical space my imagination inhabits when I think of those buildings and the people and the day. The vision of the participants is in ways more indelible, if that is possible, than the images of collapse that we have seen on TV scores or hundreds of times. Past a point, those images numb you; you cannot comprehend the how and why of such a thing happening, and it may take you a while to even come to that conclusion, after spending months trying to make sense of the puzzle and the horror. And eventually, to take some of the heartache away, you may do what a generation did with the Kennedy assasinations, turning them from high tragedy to an intellectual detective story. You think about the physics of the collapse, the engineering of the towers, the whereabouts of the criminal masterminds. You can only dwell on horror for so long. This book returns you to the human dimension that the footage of the falling buildings may, ironically, have dulled for you.There are moments here that will be with you the rest of your days. The still-interiorized words of those who lived through the worst of it, which we are priveleged to share here, can be harrowing and nearly overwhelmingly sad. But while it is often sad, this is not a sentimental memoir. Be warned, there is some very disturbing, specific content here. Murphy's September11: An Oral History is a profound book that belongs in anyone's library.

this book, written by new york times reporter, murphy, is an int-grieging and sometimes horrible look back at the world that fell(most specically) into the collective laps of those living in manhattan, and to a lesser point, those people whose lives sur-rounded the day to day routine of the U.S. Pentagon. At timesthe portraits are of unparalled heroism, as well as fate, andhow, quite often, those fates intervened. Yes, we have seen thewall to wall television coverage ad nauseum, but this well con-structed history offers no art, no photos, no flight 93 heroes;but rather that of ordinary Americans facing the least ordinaryday in recent history. You'll come away saddened, but most likely, inspired.Due to graphic relevations of death and rescue efforts, I wouldcaution 18 and under to handle this book with care.