Firehouse

Rating:
Summary: A book worth reading
Review: This book was a requirement for me to read in one of my college classes, a class dedicated to trying to understand September 11th. But this book was very interesting. It made you a part of the fireman's community, and made you understand the brotherhood that comes with that career. Through this book, you got to know a little bit about each fireman that was lost that day, and some of the other members of the firehouse and their families. I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to all.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Heroes
Review: This in a very good book about a group of men at a Manhatten firehouse who were called to duty on September 11, 2001. I got the feeling that they weren't called to duty so much as they heard duty calling them. In this brief book we are given a glimpse of each of the men who responded to the call. We are also given a briefer glimpse at those who were not on duty that day and how they dealt with their emotions. To most of us, the men who risked their lives were certainly heroes but they remained names without a story. Mr. Halberstam has given this group a personality that enables the reader to more greatly appreciate their sacrifice. For this reason alone, the book's mere 200 pages are well worth the short time it takes to read. However, this is a story about all firemen because of how the author gives us a vivid insight to life in the firehouse. We see the cameraderie and the fraternal nature of firefighters. The pay is poor and the risk is great but good men continue to respond to the call. In this book we get a sense as to why that is.

If this book has a fault it is that its' subjects are too perfect. These men have no faults; if they are grumpy, they are loveably grumpy, if they are divorced, the divorce was amicable and they remain on good terms with their ex. Should we be told of personal shortcomings for these fallen heroes? Many would say no. However, I believe that the author meant for us to see these men as people like ourselves; men who were doing the hourly-pay job that they were trained to do. In their case they made a difference by perservering in their jobs in the face of imminent peril. In our case we may never have to face such a challenge but these men have shown us that ordinary men doing extra-ordinary things DO make a difference. By portraying these men as a cut above ordinary, the point is lost. Still, there is much greatness in this book and I am content to accept the men as the author has chosen to portray them.

Rating:
Summary: A Story of Uncommon Men
Review: This is a story of men who live in a good, but rather strange world of their own. The firemen whom Halberstam writes about have their own rules of honor, of conduct, and of loyalty. In describing the twelve men from one New York City firehouse who died at the World Trade Center last Septmeber, Halberstam does more than tell us about their personalities and loves and ambitions. He lets us enter the small world of the place where they worked. Oddly enough, while the whole city of New York admired these firemen for the good they did and the risks they were willing to take, the firemen set themselves apart from the rest of New York,insulating themselves from the strife and disloyalty of daily life through the brotherhood of the firehouse. Because you know from the first page that the main personalities all died heroically, this is a grim book, but if you want a glimpse into a world where men depend on each other to stay alive each and every day, read FIREHOUSE.

Rating:
Summary: One Nagging Detail
Review: This is an immensely read-able book. The only thing that will slow you down is the compulsive need to flip to the inside cover to study the faces of these brave men.
Halberstam did an admirable job of capturing the spirit of the NYFD.
I have only one complaint for his editor and it is about this sentence:
"Two days after the attack, Jack visited the site with an old friend of his named Mike Dolan, a senior project manager for Turner Construction in Chicago,who had flown in when he learned that Michael had been at Ground Zero and was missing."

Of course, there were no planes in the sky two days after the attack. Nit-picking? Probably. But it sure was distracting.

Rating:
Summary: Stories of Ordinary Men Doing Extraordinary Things
Review: This is not a narrative of the WTC attack. It is a collection of stories about individuals who worked in a couple of fire companies that responded to the WTC. While the author gets a few technical details wrong (A little fuzzy on the rank structure of FDNY in one place and not accurate about the FDNY communications disruption by the collapse of 6 WTC - it was the "nerve center" of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Mgmt, not FDNY. FDNY had repeater antennas that came down in the collapse.), the depiction of the characters is the result of good research turned into good writing. Halberstam does nothing here to tarnish his reputation as an excellent writer. This book, by being about the people, rather than the event, begins to help those outside FDNY begin to appreciate the magnitude of the loss.

Rating:
Summary: High lights the core of those that protect us
Review: While this book is about the 9-11 reponse it is important for America to understand that firemen all over this great country are trained and prepared to respond to disasters although no one could have predicted this. More kids want to grow up to be firemen and policemen than president and that is because the opportunity to provide service to mankind is more fullfilled in service that politics.