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Summary: A touching look inside Ground Zero...
Review: This book accurately portrays the chaos, tragedy, and triumph that existed at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers. Primarily focused on the efforts at recovery and clean-up, the book tells the story of the many people who struggled to come to work every day at the site of the largest crime ever committed against our nation. I found the book very interesting and a worthy read. The only thing that left me unsettled was learning the fact that the firefighters on the scene treated the remains of non-firefighter victims with indifference and disrespect and only felt that they were there to recover their own. It's a shame that these heroes introduced that feeling into the site, but otherwise this book tells a wonderful story of people doing the best they possibly can in an extremely difficult and sad situation.
Rating: 
Summary: American Truth
Review: This book by William Langewiesche is formidable and engaging telling the story one of the most terrible crimes committed against modern man. He unravels it with fairness and readability.Then going on to tell the story of the aftermath where civilians in heavy machines simply rolled in and took on the unknown. Completing a job dispite fireman, police and construction workers looking out for thier own interest.Very well done and a must read about 911.
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Summary: Finally the truth is told
Review: This book finally allows the American public to contemplate what exactly is a hero.... But does death in the line of duty signify heroism? Under those standards, being a convenience store clerk is a heroic job! Or is heroism oridinary people going above and beyond extraordinary means -- such as storming Normandy Beach on D-Day? Or iron workers risking life and limb in the WTC rubble pile -- receiving next to no recognition? NYC firemen are human -- but some of them are not very nice human beings. Having died at/worked at/or survived the WTC does not put a halo around someone's head -- nor transform them into a hero. To deny that firefighters looted is ignorant and naive, and perpetuates the old adage about the "wall of silence" surrounding police/fire departments. It is about time a book shows the true human face of what went on at the WTC. Kudos to the author!
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Summary: Praiseworthy Journalism
Review: This country has suffered no paucity of warm tributes to the uniformed personnel, and their families, whose losses, sacrifices, and dedication on and after 9/11 were epic. And in fact Mr. Langewiesche has extended that tribute to all involved (with a lack of passion that is commendable). In doing so he naturally had to acknowledge the Herculean efforts of a wide cast of characters, a cast that included engineers, construction workers, city bureaucrats, volunteers, office workers, and relatives, in addition to firefighters and police. Bringing together so disparate a collection of people -- each of whom, as a group and individually, had been profoundly affected, either by the attack itself or by the responsibility to clean up after it, or both -- was going to generate some amount of friction, not least for the intense emotion that the attack had produced. Langewiesche, in places, detailed that friction, its sources, its dynamics. In the process, even where to some he might seem wantonly critical, he bestowed an honor, on all involved, that has been missing from so many other accounts of that horrible event: namely, he treated people like people, complicated as each of us is, and not like plaster saints. That's a form of respect, a respect far more genuine for its own complicated dynamic. But to dwell on this is to miss all the other virtues of this piece of journalism. "American Ground" is at turns harrowing, melancholic, uplifting in the oddest places, gut-wrenching, technically fascinating, even, in places, relievedly (though not disrespectfully) humorous. Anyone familiar with Langewiesche's body of work will recognize and appreciate his keen eye for detail, his assessment of character, and his powerful if restrained storytelling style. As the number of reviews stacks up on this page, you'll likely see nothing but five-star and one-star reviews. The five-star reviews, like my own, will be acknowledging "American Ground" as a journalistic achievement deserving of very high praise. The one-star reviews will often be marked by an "overblown emotionalism" (to turn back the criticism of one one-star reviewer). Those who read "American Ground" will come to recognize this overblown emotionalism, and it won't be Langewiesche's.
Rating:
Summary: Non-fiction Page-burner
Review: This is witten with passion and intimacy and the writing style is superb. I read this initially in the Atlantic Monthly which suffered only from its serialization. Took the book on a cruise expecting a long slow read but I couldn't put it down. More than any account I've read, this is closest to healing the wounded American psyche. The author juxtaposes background on hijackers, victims on the planes and in the Towers as well as the many incredible stories of heroes and family survivors. Great context even for the dark side of the perps and heroes. A must for your library and future generations to understand the nature of this watershed event in human history.
Rating:
Summary: Non-fiction Page-burner
Review: This is witten with passion and intimacy and the writing style is superb. I read this initially in the Atlantic Monthly which suffered only from its serialization. Took the book on a cruise expecting a long slow read but I couldn't put it down. More than any account I've read, this is closest to healing the wounded American psyche. The author juxtaposes background on hijackers, victims on the planes and in the Towers as well as the many incredible stories of heroes and family survivors. Great context even for the dark side of the perps and heroes. A must for your library and future generations to understand the nature of this watershed event in human history.
Rating:
Summary: A riveting book that reveals what it is to be American
Review: This was a fascinating, emotional book about the men who dealt with the aftermath of the September 11 horror. I was struck by how similar in tone and philosophy it was to Stephen Ambrose's "D-Day" -- another book with great faith in America and Americans. Both authors come to the conclusion that what makes Americans unique in the world is the willingness of single individuals to take on challenges beyond anything they ever imagined possible based purely on their confidence in themselves, their need to do SOMETHING, and their willingness to figure out what to do as they went along. The old adage, "it's far better to do first and ask forgiveness later than to wait around to get permission" describes perfectly the process that won World War II and unbuilt the World Trade Center in record time. An inspiring book.
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Summary: A riveting book that reveals what it is to be American
Review: This was a fascinating, emotional book about the men who dealt with the aftermath of the September 11 horror. I was struck by how similar in tone and philosophy it was to Stephen Ambrose's "D-Day" -- another book with great faith in America and Americans. Both authors come to the conclusion that what makes Americans unique in the world is the willingness of single individuals to take on challenges beyond anything they ever imagined possible based purely on their confidence in themselves, their need to do SOMETHING, and their willingness to figure out what to do as they went along. The old adage, "it's far better to do first and ask forgiveness later than to wait around to get permission" describes perfectly the process that won World War II and unbuilt the World Trade Center in record time. An inspiring book.
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Summary: Controversial View of the Fire Department
Review: What an interesting book this turned out to be. The author takes the reader through the rescue, recovery and clean up effort at the World Trade Center after the 9-11 attacks. I tend to like a book with a lot of facts and that is exactly what this book delivered. Interesting tid bits that an account based only on the attack or rescue just would not cover. He goes in depth into all aspects of the clean up from how the material was taken off the pile, transport to a landfill, and the sorting of the material at the landfill. The review of the management of the process was also well written. It takes a good author to make some of these mundane issues exciting and this author did it. I think the most unexpected part of the book for me was the hard look he took at the actions of the firefighters during the clean up. It was not flattering and for the most part the negative items he reports are not very well known. As you read other reviews this particular item appears to elicit the most emotion. Overall this was a very interesting book. The detail was there and it was well written. My only complaint would be that it was only 200 pages - I would have liked even more detail.
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Summary: American journalism at its very best
Review: When The Atlantic Monthly ran this as a three-part series, I was blown away. While every other major news source in America was trying their hardest to sneek people into the ground zero scene (the New York Times got a reporter in because he was wearing a Marines t-shirt and he simply didn't leave for about two weeks), the Atlantic thought carefully about how best to cover the story and then asked permission to the appropriate people to get William Langewiesche on the scene. Since a higher-up knew Langewiesche's work, and knew it was brilliant, Langewiesche was given total access to everything--the entire site of Ground Zero, all records, all meetings, all people. No other reporter in the world had such access. Langewiesche writes in an incredible narrative style that paints a human picture of what happened while giving information that no one else got close to. At twenty years of age, I was already beginning to lose faith in American journalism. This piece of reportage single-handedly restored my faith. I'm recommending this piece to everyone. It's not an "objective" (read: boring and inhuman) account, nor is it a politically tainted account. William Langewiesche has spent years abroad covering wars and disasters; he recognizes the extent of the loss of life but doesn't get caught up in mourning the "tragedy" that occured. His account is one of a well-trained journalist who was /there/ for months. If there is anyone whose account we can trust right now, I think it's his. He's done the work of historians several decades ahead of time, and personalized it in a true and deep way, since he actually spent lots of time at the site. If you only read one thing on the September 11th terrorist attacks, this should certainly be it.
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