First published 2002
William Langewiesche secured unprecedented access to Ground Zero following the September 11 attacks. He embedded with the engineers, deconstruction workers, firefighters, and city officials tasked with dismantling what terrorism had begun. Langewiesche documents the physical complexities of the collapse and the subsequent cleanup effort. He reveals how engineers who had helped build the Twin Towers now faced the grim duty of taking them apart. The work proceeded under constant threat from the unstable rubble pile and the surrounding slurry wall that could flood underground Manhattan if it failed. Political battles erupted as different groups claimed ownership over the tragedy and the recovery work. Firefighters, police, widows, and officials fought territorial wars while thousands of bodies remained buried in the debris. Langewiesche captures both the technical challenges and the human drama of this massive undertaking, showing how the cleanup effort reflected distinctly American qualities of ingenuity, democracy, and spontaneous organization.
Genres: history, american, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: real-events
Setting: Ground Zero, Manhattan
Period: September 11
224 pages · Hardcover · North Point Press