There's a Book for That: 9/11, 25 Years Later
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Twenty-five years later, we remember those who lost their lives, their loved ones, the survivors, and the many people whose lives were forever changed by the events of that day and their aftermath.
For those looking to learn more about September 11 and its lasting impact, we recommend the following nonfiction, from first-hand accounts of Ground Zero to a Pulitzer-Prize winning history, as well as a poignant poetry anthology:
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • WITH AN AUTHOR’S NOTE ON THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY
A “heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11” (The New York Times Book Review), this definitive history explains in gripping detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. In gripping narrative that spans five decades, Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat.
Decorated FDNY firefighter, 9/11 survivor, and expert emergency manager Tim Brown shares the lessons he’s learned about grief, resilience, sacrificial love, and transforming pain into purpose. On September 11, 2001, FDNY firefighter and emergency manager Tim Brown was inside the World Trade Center complex when the towers fell. Nearly one hundred of his friends and colleagues were killed. He lived—and vowed to never forget. Then came September 12. And every day after that. Days spent first surviving, then grieving, then learning how to transform pain into purpose.
After 9/11 poetry was everywhere-on telephone poles, on warehouse walls, in the bus shelters. People spontaneously turned to poetry to understand and cope with the tragedy of the attack. Full of humor, love, rage and fear, this diverse collection of poems attests to the power of poetry to express and to heal the human spirit. This anthology features poems by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn; Best American Poetry series editor David Lehman; National Book Award winner and New York State Poet Jean Valentine; the first ever Nuyorican Slam-Poetry champ; poets laureate of Brooklyn and Queens; and a poem and introduction by National Book Award finalist Alicia Ostriker.
This book is the definitive, official companion volume to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. It provides visitors with a lasting record of their experience at the museum and tells the story of September 11 through essays on and photographs of the installations and thoughtfully curated artifacts that serve as touchstones to the day and its aftermath.
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE
For most living Americans, September 11, 2001, is the darkest date in the nation’s history. But what exactly happened on 9/11? Could it have been prevented? And what remains unresolved? Here is the first panoramic, authoritative account of that tragic day—from the first brutal actions of the hijackers to our government’s flawed response; from the untruths told afterward by U.S. officials to the “elephant in the room” of the 9/11 Commission’s report—the clues that point to foreign involvement.
A groundbreaking history of how the decades-long war on terror changed virtually every aspect of American life, from the erosion of citizenship down to the cars we bought and TV we watched—by an acclaimed n+1 writer.
For the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus, the terrorist attacks of September 11th were both highly personal and intensely political. In the Shadow of No Towers is a masterful and moving account of the events and aftermath of that tragic day. Spiegelman and his family bore witness to the attacks in their lower Manhattan neighborhood: his teenage daughter had started school directly below the towers days earlier, and they had lived in the area for years. But the horrors they survived that morning were only the beginning for Spiegelman, as his anguish was quickly displaced by fury at the U.S. government, which shamelessly co-opted the events for its own preconceived agenda. He responded in the way he knows best. In an oversized, two-page-spread format that echoes the scale of the earliest newspaper comics (which Spiegelman says brought him solace after the attacks), he relates his experience of the national tragedy in drawings and text that convey—with his singular artistry and his characteristic provocation, outrage, and wit—the unfathomable enormity of the event itself, the obvious and insidious effects it had on his life, and the extraordinary, often hidden changes that have been enacted in the name of post-9/11 national security and that have begun to undermine the very foundation of American democracy.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, forever altered the American landscape, both figuratively and literally. Immediately after the jets struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Dennis Smith, a former firefighter, reported to Manhattan’s Ladder Co. 16 to volunteer in the rescue efforts. In the weeks that followed, Smith was present on the front lines, attending to the wounded, sifting through the wreckage, and mourning with New York’s devastated fire and police departments.
This is Smith’s vivid account of the rescue efforts by the fire and police departments and emergency medical teams as they rushed to face a disaster that would claim thousands of lives. Smith takes readers inside the minds and lives of the rescuers at Ground Zero as he shares stories about these heroic individuals and the effect their loss had on their families and their companies. “It is,” says Smith, “the real and living history of the worst day in America since Pearl Harbor.” Written with drama and urgency, Report from Ground Zero honors the men and women who—in America’s darkest hours—redefined our understanding of courage.
A sweeping narrative history of the U.S. government’s broken compact with its Muslim citizens, culminating in the post-9/11 era of mass surveillance and increased violence—from an award-winning New York Times Magazine journalist. Through the powerful stories of four families across eight decades, Ali narrates a range of Muslim experiences shaped by relentless suspicion and prejudice. Introducing readers to Abdeen Jabara, Mohammad Ali Chaudry, Shahina and Matin Siraj, and the pseudonymous Omar family, she shows how fears about American Muslims have always been inextricable from the Israel–Palestine conflict, stoking the idea of a religious war between Muslims and the West.
As one of the primary authors of the 9/11 Commission Report, John Farmer is proud of his and his colleagues’ work. Yet he came away from the experience convinced that there was a further story of the September 11th attacks to be told, one he was uniquely qualified to write.
FOR YOUNGER READERS
The branches of the 9/11 Survivor Tree poked through the rubble at Ground Zero. They were glimpses of hope in the weeks after September 11, 2001. Remember and honor the events of 9/11 and celebrate how hope appears in the midst of hardship. The Survivor Tree found at Ground Zero was rescued, rehabilitated, and then replanted at the 9/11 Memorial site in 2011. This is its story.
Winner of the Christopher Award
Award-winning ESPN reporter Tom Rinaldi brings Welles’s inspirational story of selflessness and compassion to life in this accessible young readers’ adaptation of his New York Times bestselling book. This powerful story of making a difference through our actions is perfect for helping the post-9/11 generation understand the meaning of this historic day through the eyes of one young man.
This is the inspiring true story of the John J. Harvey-a retired New York City fireboat reinstated on September 11, 2001. Originally launched in 1931, the Harvey was the most powerful fireboat of her time. After the September 11 attacks, with fire hydrants at Ground Zero inoperable and the Hudson River’s water supply critical to fighting the blaze, the fire department called on the Harvey for help. There were adjustments-forcing water into hoses by jamming soda bottles and wood into nozzles with a sledgehammer-and then the fireboat’s volunteer crew pumped much-needed water to the disaster site. The John J. Harvey proved she was still one of New York’s Bravest!
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