Customer Reviews

Covering Catastrophe

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Well, what can I say? I bought this book and finished it the same day! I absolutely could not put it down! This book offers an up close and personal account of one of the worst days in American History. Not only did these journalists risk their lives to bring breaking news to the American public, but they became PART of the horrifying event as it unfolded before our very eyes. This book is a personal account of what these people, not journalists, experienced on that chilling day as they put themselves in the line of fire trying to do their job. Like many of us, these journalists lost loved ones in the World Trade Center right before their very eyes, and ran for their lives when the towers collapsed. Some journalists were hurt, others put their job aside for a moment and headed in to assist the wounded. The world united as the tragedy of September 11th unfolded, and our country demonstrated the best in humanity. This book recaps this horrible day up close and personal through our journalists' eyes.

The terrorist ttack on September 11th, was the worst thing tht has ever happend in my lifetime, and I was personally traumatized as events unfolded before me on the television set. I lost friends that day, and a city that I called home at one time was changed forever. This book made me cry at times as it reminded me of the details of that horrible day. I never want to forget what happend, which is why I purchased this book. I will use this book to help explain to my children what I, and everyone else in America went through on 9/11. This book spoke to me on a very personal and human level, and for that I am happy to add it to my collection. I read also, that all royalties will be give to the Citigroup Scholarship Fund and Societ of Broadcast Engineers Fund. I am glad to see that the money for this book is more of an extension of the humanity I witnessed on that day. I cant recommend this book enough.

On that most inhumane of days, 9/11/01, the humanity of the broadcast journalists covering the horrible events, was jerked from its comfortable background position, and exposed for all to see and hear. "Covering Catastrophe" is the chronicle of many different news professionals who worked the story, telling in their own words how they reported on and in many cases became part of the story. The most moving aspect of the book for me was how they shed tears, feared for the lost, became closer to their families and in some cases fought the nightmares.

The book is presented in chronological order, beginning with a bright cloudless morning in New York, and ending almost 24 hours later. Some of the well known principals, such as Brokaw, Rather and Jennings will probably write more detailed memoirs of the event, but this book highlights how the "average guys" responded as well. The book is well paced and will not only take you back to 9/11, but will give you a glimpse of what it was like on the other side of the TV screen.

Well done. My hat's off to the editors. It had to be difficult to wade through that much material and decide what stays and what goes. It had to be just as difficult to relive that horrible day through the first-person accounts of friends and colleagues.
As for how it reads, it is a FAST read. But for me, I can only read a little at a time. It is a powerful book.

Listening to Robyn Walensky's eloquent retelling of the events of that fateful day at a booksigning in Washington, DC, and reading the minute-by-minute reconstruction of what it was like to cover these events, this book brings back all of the emotion and impact of September 11th, but from the vantage point of the working broadcast journalists who brought the story into the living rooms of the country and the world. Ms. Walensky and her co-editors and contributors have done an historical service to all future generations by putting their experiences collectively into the permanent record. If time ever can dull the memory of what happened that day, take this book down from the shelf and it will all come back, with clarity and purpose. Hopefully, a similar book will be assembled on what the print reporters experienced that day. A superb recounting of the working reporter's craft.

If you only buy one book about September 11th - this is the one to buy. There are several books out but this is the best for a moment to moment account from broadcast journalists who experienced that day from a news point of view. Everyone, from news program producers, sound techs, camera people, radio people are included in this excellent compilation of who saw what, when, how and what they felt as participants in the biggest story of this century. I'm a history nut and stayed home the day of the attack to watch TV coverage all day from all the different networks and I wanted a book that would really convey the events, the victims and the feelings and impressions of those who responded to the catasrophe of 9/11 in an accurate fashion for my children to read and, hopefully, my grandchildren to read in this one book and have some idea of what living this historical day was like. I consider this to be the most valuable book I have bought all year (and I buy lots of books).

Covering Castastrophe is a book that ought to be in everyone's library. It is an historic record of a horrific event in our history. It gave me the feeling of participating in history that eventful day. Frequently, I had to stop reading it because I felt I was walking beside every reporter, correspondent, producer, anchorman and camerman. There were times I could not breathe either. As a former New Yorker, who watched the towers being built, I was mesmerized and glued to the TV, as everyone else. Visiting Ground Zero was emotional. This book left an impact that has overwhelmed me. It has given me a better understanding of how determined these people work to get the story and get it right. What a great job they do. Another group of unsung heroes. Well done, all!!

You won't find any major revelations in this book, and much of what is in here is covered in other sources (many several times over), but that still doesn't deter from the fact that this is basically a decent, non-judgemental oral history about the events of September 11. Everyone gets their say, from the lowly producers at the foot of the trade center all the way up to the network anchors on their national news sets. You end up with a certain appreciation for the effort it took for these people to not only get the story out, but to try to get it out in the middle of absolute chaos. You may not like the media or trust them, but you can't help but marvel that -- on that one day, at least -- everyone seemed to pull together and leave the personal opinions aside, just to make sure the tragedy unfolding before our eyes was properly documented for the world to see. Their stories may not be as compelling as the firefighters or rescue workers, but they are compelling nevertheless.

I have read that in combat, soldiers seem to sense that life,death and destruction are prerequisites for battle. The emotional scars stay with them for a lifetime however the concept of battle prepares them to accept what has happened.
September 11,2001 will never have any concept of acceptance
to any normal human being. Innocent people, simply doing their jobs, were robbed that dreadful day. For some it was life itself--for others trying to find out and report to the world what was happening- turned into life and death situations.
This book is a tribute to these men and women and the people
who were responsible for getting the word out to the world. I admire them greatly.
My only feeling while reading the book was that some of it was repiticious and I felt switching back and forth from New York
to Washington was a bit confusing at times.
The book is a sad commentary on our real New Millenium.

This chronicle of those who chronicled the minute by minute horror of September 11, 2001 gives the reader a contemporaneous view of the day and, in their own words, of how reporters report. It starts with the recollection of WPIX-TV New York Helicopter Cameraman Chet Wilson describing his routine view of the Twin Towers in the sunrise and ends with a bone-weary Dan Rather, Anchor, CBS News returning home at 5:15 the next morning.

In between, we see the human side of those trying to tell a stricken world what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen. They are like those blind people with the elephant - all each can do is report on the little piece of the beast in front of him.

The book is a cooperative humanitarian compilation, royalties are being donated to benefit the families of the victims of the September 11 terrorists attacks, including the families of the six broadcast engineers who died that day atop the World Trade Center, who are touchingly eulogized in the book's Epilogue.Here is how the editors explain the effort: "We took the individual accounts of what journalists experienced, learned, and felt that day and wove them into a narrative. The major events are discussed in the order in which they occurred." The reader who would like to follow each contributor through his/her day may do so by using the Index of Contributors in the back of the book. Also in the back of the book are helpful maps of the besieged areas, (which I wish I would have known while I was reading the book - instead of stumbling upon them afterward) and picture bio/blurbs of the contributors. Conspicuously absent here are Bryant Gumble, Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Diane Sawyer, and Charlie Gibson. Jane Clayson participated, as did all the major network news anchors.

Byron Pitts, CBS News Correspondent, New York, summarized The Day: "On September 11 in Lower Manhattan, everyone was just a human being. People weren't black; they weren't white; they weren't cops; they weren't firefighters; they were just human beings. I don't remember anyone yelling at anyone, anyone giving directions to do anything. I will remember September 11 as much for what went right as for what went wrong: the bravery of the firefighters, how incredibly decent people were. I was raised to believe that God is good. I believed it on September 10. I believed it on September 11. The evil that happened there - that was man-made. But the strength and the decency, the courage people showed, for me, that's what God and faith are all about. And I was reminded that tomorrow isn't promised."

How many times have you perhaps thought, and also heard that the press are really bad folks? The press has an agenda? The press is biased? Well, this great book reminds us all how truly wonderful the men and women of broadcast journalism covered the horrible events of September 11th. I will never forget how I saw Tom Brokaw, lower his head at one point and choke up. After a second or two he acknowledged to us all that he had an emotional moment. At one point, Peter Jennings, who had just received word that his kids were safe, looked at the camera and told the audience that we all should call our children. I dearly loved reading of the human sides of these men and women. Also, it was astonishing to see how radio and TV covered the story not knowing from moment to moment where the story was going. Local New York area radio and TV are covered as well as that of national TV networks.I really don't want to give anything more away. Buy this book and read it. This will be one that you will want to include in your home library for years to come. You won't want to be selling this one to a used book store or in a garage sale. It's a keeper.