Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back

Rating:
Summary: All Were Heroes
Review: As a friend of Mark Bingham, one of the men on board Flight 93 who helped bring that plane down, I have seen the focus in the media constantly revolving around the four men who stormed the cockpit. Those were the ones we kept hearing were the heroes. Jere Longman has done a wonderful job of showing how each person on board Flight 93 served the purpose of fighting the first fight in the war on terrorism.

While some, like Mark, may have used their brawn and fearlessness to counterattack the terrorists, each individual on they plane served a vital role in this fight. Some were trained in dealing with people in trauma, while there were others who could make coffee, get sodas or items for passengers that needed things. Each person in their own way supported someone on that flight.

Mr. Longman has brought insight to me, making me think about the other thirty-six passengers and flight crew besides the "Heroic Four." I am grateful for his research and beautiful use of words to make what happened on that day to my friend and the others on board, a better rounded picture. I realize now that all forty of the passengers and flight crew were heroes.

If you have any questions about what happened on Flight 93 and want to know more about the wonderful people who were lost on that plane, then I suggest you read this book. My hat goes off to you Mr. Longman.

Rating:
Summary: Respectful, Inspiring Tribute + Flt. 93 Events Reconstructed
Review: As I read "Among the Heroes", I was inspired by the lives of the passengers, their loved ones, and by the author, Jere Longman. Longman, a New York Times reporter, seamlessly integrates the story of United Flight 93 (preflight check to post-crash recovery effort) with the lives of the passengers and hijackers in a well-written book that I couldn't put down. "Among the Heroes" successfully achieves the author's 3 goals described in the preface: to recreate the actions aboard Flight 93 in as much detail as is known, to commemorate the crew members and 40 passengers, and to understand how hijacker pilot, Ziad Jarrah, became radicalized to the point of suicide terrorism. Longman does an excellent job reconstructing the story of Flight 93 from numerous interviews, flight records, recollections of family members who heard the data voice recording, taped phone calls of passengers, media reports, and eyewitness accounts of the crash. He also debunks speculation that the plane was shot down. Toward the end, we hear from some of the family members on how they're coping with their loss, and their thoughts on September 11th and the war on terrorism. Longman also does a very good job reconstructing the activities of and influences on Jarrah based on interviews of landlords, family members, flight school classmates, and even the instructor who taught him street-fighting at the gym.

For me, what makes this book a 5 star, highly inspirational book are the lives of the passengers and crew. This was an amazing, incredibly talented, highly intelligent group of people. Old or young, married or single, every passenger and crew member appeared to live his or her life to their highest potential. The stories and achievements of these people are remarkable, showing achievements in every area of life: loving families, overcoming challenges, fulfilling careers, personal growth, physical fitness/sports, appreciating nature, spiritual growth, intellectual development, developing one's talents, travel and leisure, helping others, and giving back to the community. Among the passengers were environmental attorneys and environmental activists, a disability rights activist, writers, people successful in socially responsible business such as making airplanes safer and selling life-saving medical supplies, a teacher, emergency medical technicians, an ironworker who helped build the World Trade Center, and two pilots. But we see these people beyond their careers and athletic trophies. We see stories of them showing the kinds of people they were, accomplishments and imperfections alike. Even the youngest people on the plane were highly accomplished, for example, college student Deora Bodley, well-read and accomplished at academics and sports, tutored third and forth graders, educated people about AIDS, and volunteered at an animal shelter. And Deora's was just one of dozens of stories of impressive accomplishments, service to humanity, and love of family. Beyond their resumes, I was struck most by the love these passengers and crew members had for their families and the love their families have for them. There is story after story of passengers and crew members regularly taking time out of their busy lives to share in the lives of loved ones and help other people. For instance, Captain Jason Dahl would plan spectacular anniversary surprises for his wife, and several businessman dads designed their careers so they could spend more time with their children. Lauren Grandcolas, pregnant with her first child on the flight, not only had a successful career in marketing and advertising, she kept physically fit by a variety of activities and still found time to volunteer for 5 different causes including AIDS walks and food distribution centers, and to even give her husband Jack a facial. In their darkest hour, knowing they were likely to die, Lauren and many of her fellow passengers, called their loved ones seeking to comfort them and tell them they loved them one last time.

Upon reading this book, I'm more inspired than ever to manage my time better, set and accomplish goals, live my life to the fullest, make time for loved ones, and as time management guru Stephen Covey says, "leave a legacy."

Rating:
Summary: Good book, but bad review farther down
Review: Good book -- fascinating, intense, important -- but the Brooklyn reader who called his or her piece "HDWK -- How Do We Know?" should be ashamed. S/he claims to speak for all New Yorkers and claims to know what all Middle Americans think. (And how New York-centric that anywhere in the U.S. outside of New York is Middle America! I lived in New York and remember that snobbishness well.) S/he also claims that the plane might have been intercepted and shot down, implying that Beamer and his companions weren't heroes even if they were thwarting the hijackers as the missile was approaching. "Brooklyn" knows nothing about courage, heroism, or fairness. I'd hate to tell you where I wish he or she had been working last year.

Rating:
Summary: Here's the Definition of Hero
Review: I can't even begin to imagine what went through the minds of the families and friends of those who died on United Flight 93 on Sept. 11. As I watched the news coverage, my heart went out to those people. We didn't know then what really happened on board Flight 93, what made the plane crash into a field in Shanksville, PA instead of the White House or the Capitol. After reading `Among the Heroes,' I felt that I had a clearer picture of the course of events and the acts of bravery that the passengers exhibited. But even if we never know exactly what happened on board, we now feel we know these people, thanks to Longman.

Through interviews with family and friends, Longman gives the reader a look into the lives of the passengers on Flight 93. In most cases, they were people just like you and me - people who had jobs, families, and friends. They had plans, dreams, and courage. They weren't perfect. Like all of us, they had their faults. But they weren't about to sit back and let the ends of their lives be dictated by terrorists.

This is a gripping, honest, account of one part of the most terrible day in our history. Yet, it is also a tribute to the spirit of liberty that each of these bold Americans exhibited on that awful day. Forget movie celebrities, rock stars, and professional athletes. The passengers on Flight 93 redefine what the word hero means. There is no higher standard than the one they set. Let us honor them and never forget.

280 pages

Rating:
Summary: Here's the Definition of Hero
Review: I can't even begin to imagine what went through the minds of the families and friends of those who died on United Flight 93 on Sept. 11. As I watched the news coverage, my heart went out to those people. We didn't know then what really happened on board Flight 93, what made the plane crash into a field in Shanksville, PA instead of the White House or the Capitol. After reading 'Among the Heroes,' I felt that I had a clearer picture of the course of events and the acts of bravery that the passengers exhibited. But even if we never know exactly what happened on board, we now feel we know these people, thanks to Longman.

Through interviews with family and friends, Longman gives the reader a look into the lives of the passengers on Flight 93. In most cases, they were people just like you and me - people who had jobs, families, and friends. They had plans, dreams, and courage. They weren't perfect. Like all of us, they had their faults. But they weren't about to sit back and let the ends of their lives be dictated by terrorists.

This is a gripping, honest, account of one part of the most terrible day in our history. Yet, it is also a tribute to the spirit of liberty that each of these bold Americans exhibited on that awful day. Forget movie celebrities, rock stars, and professional athletes. The passengers on Flight 93 redefine what the word hero means. There is no higher standard than the one they set. Let us honor them and never forget.

280 pages

Rating:
Summary: This book is about faith and hope.
Review: I don't want to take anything away from every fireman and policeman that worked on Sept 11. Both the living and those that are gone, but, this book touched me much more that I thought that it would. What is fascinating to me is that among the souls on this flight, there was not one person who was going to sit meekly by and just let something happen. After reading about all of these amazing people, I just hope and pray that I would have half the courage that these real people had. I read this book in one sitting and I am suggesting that all of my friends and family read it as well. You cannot call these people average, there was not an average person on that plane, but they were put in an extraordinary situation and reacted with what one can only call extraordinary faith and hope.

Rating:
Summary: Heroism Beyond Measure
Review: I hardly know what to say about the events covered in this book for fear of trivializing a national tragedy. There is so much to say about the bravery and courage of the passengers and crew of Flight 93 and yet nothing that can be said to adequately honor them.

Mr. Longman writes compelling prose but I suspect that the events he describes practically wrote themselves. To the bare facts of what we knew already about the passsengers and crew members, their names, etc., he has fleshed out each passenger, including the misquided murderers-- not that I care to know much about these bastards-- bringing them closer to us as real people. Some of the things you learn will break your heart. One passenger, for example, was flying to pick up the remains of a deceased family member. Another passenger collected refrigerator magnets wherever she travelled, something that was particularly poignant to me since I also collect magnets from places I've been

I bought this book after hearing the author interviewed on National Public Radio and read it straight through. Two things jumped out at me. First, several of the passengers and their families and friends had premonitions that they should not get on this flight. Secondly, other passengers changed flight plans at the last minute and boarded this flight because there were so many seats available.

The flight contained all kinds of people: Caucasians, African Americans, a Puerto Rican-American, a gay man, a disabled person, a Japanese student, a Baptist married couple, old people young people, those folks on vacation, those on work assignments.

Amid all this sorrow and carnage, the courage and bravery of these passengers shine through: the rushing of the highjackers, as we believe happened, the flight attendant heating water to pour on them, the strength those showed who made phone calls from the plane.

I must say that the most horric thing I read was that had we not known better, it would seem that there were no passengers on the plane when it crashed into the field in Pennsylvania, that it was as if the plane had let all passengers off somewhere else, and, finally, that the official cause of death of these brave ones was listed as death by "fragmentation." A chilling detail.

Rating:
Summary: We Cannot Hallow This Ground
Review: I heard the author interviewed on National Public Radio recently, bought the book immediately and read it straight through. I hardly know what to say about the book lest I trivialize such a horrible event in our nation's history. Mere words become cliches in the face of such courage and bravery of the passangers and crew of United Flight 93.

Two things jumped out at me when I read this book. First, several of the passengers and/or friends or relatives had premonitions that they should not take this flight. Second, many of the passengers changed their flight plans at the last minute and got on this plane because there were so many empty seats.

I was also taken by the diversity of those aboard. (After all, wasn't that one of the problems of the misguided monsters, that they did not believe in the diversity of the U. S.?) There were Caucasians, African Americans, a Puerto-Rican American, a Japanese student, a gay man, a married Baptist couple, Jewish folk, a disabled person, older people, young people, people on vacation, others on work assignments.

The book is extremely well written although I suspect that it almost wrote itself. I do not mean to take anything away from Mr. Longman, but a writer would have to work hard to make such a tragic event uninteresting. He includes photographs of the crew and passengers and fleshes out their lives. One passenger is on his way to pick up the remains of a loved one. Another passenger we find out collects refrigerator magnets from cities she has visited, a fact that made we smile since I have the same quirk.

Although these 40 people lost their lives, they did not go gentle. From the flight attendant who boiled water to throw on these devils to the other passengers who apparently stormed the cockpit, surely they are the best of our country's best citizens. There are goverment officials walking around Washington today who most assuredly owe their lives to these valiant passengers and crew.

One final thing. The people who got to the plane after it crashed in that field in Pennsylvania said that had they not known better, they would have thought the plane was empty, that it was as if the plane had made a previous landing and let off all the passengers. And I learned a chilling new phrase. The official cause of death of these passengers and crew was "death by fragmentation."

It is fitting that someone in this book compared the resting place of these good people to Gettysburg. In the words of our greatest orator: "We cannot hallow this ground."

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring, but pehaps too voyeuristic
Review: I just finished the book and obviously am overwhelmed as anyone would be. The heroism and courage of the passengers and crew go without saying. The story was inspiring and reflects the true depth of character of those aboard and their final sacrifice. That said, I could not help to feel in much of the book that I was invading the privacy of these courageous individuals and the manner in which some of the book is handled perhaps could have been handled differently. There were many, many details about the victims' lives, both years before September 11, the days leading up to it, and the day itself. At times I felt like there was almost too much detail that was really not necessary. I am not certain the details of some of them the day before and getting to the airport that day really have much relevance to the actual events aboard or the people they were. Is it really important to know who almost missed the flight but did not, who ended up getting on the flight by standby, or who had missed another missed flight only to end up on this one, and who had booked it for months? It almost plays to morbid curiosity that perhaps has little to no relevance about the actions on board. In a way, it became well, voyeuristic, in this regard. It made the theme almost too sensational or almost too commercialized. The various portions of the premonitions of some of the passengers and families I feel were handled poorly as well. As someone who is scared to fly, I have "premonitions" that my planes will crash almost every time before I get on one. I do not believe this is uncommon. Again, it bordered on the almost too sensational, the too voyeuristic. One passenger had such a premonition the night before but did not change the flight. Is it really pertinent to the actions taken on board and the sacrifice taken?

This is the definitive book on Flight 93 for those interested and the theme of the book and what it reflects are extremely powerful and well done. Just be aware that the book contains a lot more information than you might really want to know or are comforable with knowing.

Rating:
Summary: I Highly Recommend This Book
Review: I recently read the book, "Among the Heroes", by Jere Longman. Through multiple interviews and various news accounts the author attempts to create a chronological account of the horrific journey. His words enable me to feel as though I know the Passengers and Crew of Flight 93 personally. Stopping far short of crediting any particular person or persons, he paints a picture that forces the reader to realize each and every one of them was, indeed, heroic. Longman leaves many questions unanswered, admitting we will never know exactly what happened. Nonetheless, the book, or the [real-life] characters within, left me in awe. Within two days I had traveled to Shanksville, PA, the site of the crash. Read the book. You'll be lending it out to friends-- I nearly guarantee it.