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52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We Cannot Hallow This Ground, September 12, 2002
This review is from: Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back (Hardcover)
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."
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52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charged With A Powerful Testimony, August 4, 2002
This review is from: Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back (Hardcover)
Lesser men hijack planes. Great men thwart them. Such were the men and women on Flight 93. In "Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back" we read the details and facts of people who rose from being mere travellers to heroes to be reckoned with.
Todd Beamer and the rest were not intending to die, nor did they expect to be heroes. Give a chance to think twice, who knows what they might've done. But they thought once, did what needed to be done, and showed us the spirit of Paul Revere is not lost in the late 1700s, but is awake in this generation. And that the valor of Bunker Hill, the courage of men who did not shoot until they saw the whites of their opponents' eyes... Beamer and company pressed through the odds against their success. Not just Beamer, though he is now the best known of the heroic team.
In forcing a plane to crash, they raised the American flag higher into the sky than it had seen in many decades. And, in the case of Beamer, it showed that a man of deep Christian faith was willing to give his life that others may live, an example for all Christians worldwide.
The details of the book bring reality to a story too easy to make into a myth. There was a real plane over a real field, and real people hijacked it, and real people were killed in the process. I fully recommend "Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back" by Jere Longman. The call, "Let's roll!" will echo through the years, and hopefully never lose its volume.
Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Respectful and balanced, August 29, 2002
This review is from: Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back (Hardcover)
I was a reluctant to read this book, unitl I heard the author, Jere Longman, interviewed on CNN. He said he tried to focus more on the lives of the passengers of United Flight 93 - not as much on their deaths. So, I decided to give it a shot and ordered the book. Once I started reading, I literally could not put it down. It was wonderful to gain an understanding of who the people were that fate placed on that particular flight. I valued the author's effort to provide a glimpse into their lives through the lens of familiy members and friends. Although, it didn't feel like voyeurism at all. Instead, it felt like attending a memorial service - a celebration of life and of the American spirit. The personal memories were touching, but the book was balanced with factual information on the events leading up to the crash in Shanksville. It was difficult to read the specifics about phone calls that were made by the passengers and crew, their attempts to gather facts on the other hijacked planes, and the tender goodbyes to their loved ones. However, it is the type of book that helps you examine your priorities and reflect on relationships in your life.
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