First published 2019
Garrett Graff constructs the most complete account of September 11, 2001 through the words of nearly five hundred people who lived through that day. The award-winning journalist draws from declassified documents, unpublished transcripts, and original interviews to tell the story from multiple perspectives. Ticket agents unknowingly check in terrorists at Northeast airports. Flight attendants face hijackers aboard doomed planes. First responders confront chaos at the Twin Towers while officials monitor radar screens from White House bunkers. Fighter pilots prepare to sacrifice themselves by ramming hijacked aircraft. Passengers on United Flight 93 make their final stand over Pennsylvania. Throughout the day, Air Force One flies alone through empty skies. Graff captures ordinary people confronting extraordinary circumstances: a father and son separated by the North Tower impact zone, a firefighter searching for his wife at the World Trade Center, a phone operator taking final messages from passengers. The book reveals how Americans responded to unprecedented trauma in real time, creating a panoramic narrative of courage and human connection during a day that transformed the nation.
Genres: history, terrorism, non-fiction, 21st-century, aviation, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: multiple-perspectives, real-events
Setting: Northeast, Pennsylvania, Twin Towers, White House, World Trade Center
Period: September 11, 2001
485 pages · Hardcover · Avid Reader Press
Content warnings: death, violence