Customer Reviews

Here Is New York: A Democracy of Photographs

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is it. At this writing (August 26 2002),
"Here is New York" is the book that best
captures the 9/11 attack on the U.S. at
the World Trade Center and the immediate
and ongoing effects on those of us in New York City.

This book is not a souvenir.
It is not an editorial summary.
It is not an exploitation.

It is shattered glimpses of the reality
that we New Yorkers lived, simply presented.
This is what was and is.

Except for an introduction describing how
the photographs were collected, the entire
book is just photographs. Just photographs.
And the book is as thick as a Manhattan phone
book.

Each photograph is given an entire page or
double page spread. Each is meticulously
reproduced so that you can study the details
of what is going on. You can read the faces
of people in them. There are no captions.
The photos speak for themselves. Virtually
every one of them is profound.

After all, there really are no words for this.

Look at the details. There are no ordinary
photographs here. If you think a photograph
is ordinary,you are missing something important;
look again.

There are nearly a thousand photographs, most
never before published. They communicate an
intimacy of meaning that I have seen no where
else. The whole project is stunning; the order
and format of the photographs in this book
offer a depth of experience that cannot be
duplicated in other media.

Please know: the wreckage photographs are the
best I've seen, yet even at the size of a full
page they cannot convey the scale and depth and
constant danger of "Ground Zero."

There was far more going on than even this city
full of cameras could capture. Some still goes on.
And much is still going on inside ourselves.
No book, no media, can bring it all together.
But this book is more than a sum of its parts
and delivers more than I thought possible.

I offer my highest praise.

Indeed, here is New York, U.S.A.

I understand that some people below were shocked at finding the photo of a severed leg in this collection. They all promptly seem to have demoted the book's worth to a single star. That doesn't seem an appropriate response to me. The book is almost 1000 pages long and there's a single photo showing what was unfortunately a very common site that day. I'm not suggesting that the publishers should have added more gory photos to the book. I'm saying that an honest portrayal of September 11th shouldn't shy away from accurately depicting the real horror of the event. What happened that day was horrendous, the acts, despicable, so let's not try to whitewash what happened by requesting a G-rated depiction.

This book is stunning in the literal not the sensationalistic sense of the word. I read it cover to cover the day I got it and was provoked to remember the day (as we sometimes need to) all over again. As others have pointed out, this is not a sensationalist tome at all. No captions accompany the photo, neither are the names of photographers provided with each photo. No, the focus is entirely on the subject matter.

If you don't want to remember, don't pick this book up. I'd argue, however, that for the sake of our children and our society, we all need to remember this event and remember it well.

This is the best of all of the Photo-essay books about the September 11 tragedy. Featuring photos taken by amateurs and professionals,on the street, subways, busses and wherever they happened to be, this very thick book is over 800 pages of photographs, with no words accompanying the images. The omission adds to the impact of the photos, most of them depicting the horror, sadness, grief and humanity of people witnessing and reacting to the attack. There is one extremely disturbing photo of a victim's limb which may not be suitable for everyone. More so than the often seen images by professionals, these photos by ordinary people linger hauntingly in the mind and demand emotional introspection.

There are now many books about the attacks on 9/11, many of them commemorative photo books, but if you are thinking about which one or two ought to be in your library, HERE IS NEW YORK is one you must have. The experience of seeing this storefront exhibition (which the book represents) was endlessly fascinating and moving. Thousands of photos were solicited by both amateur and professional photographers, and all were tacked up in seemingly random order all over the walls of a small shop. These charted the World Trade Center from its glory as a New York City landmark through the aftermath of the attacks. Virtually every photo was evocative, many were beautiful, and when taken together they created a staggering portrait of that day and those that immediately followed. Many experiences and points of view are represented. To enter this exhibit was an amazing experience, and when it was housed in a storefront on Sixth Avenue off Bryant Park in Manhattan, I found myself drawn there again and again. This book can't exactly recreate that experience, but it does come close to recreating the slide show that appeared on plasma screens in the exhibit, which invariably transfixed dozens of visitors at a time. To characterize the experience of thumbing through this book (even in the hurly burly of a bookstore) as riveting, moving, human is not really enough. It struck this New Yorker as an important and definitive document and one well worth having.

Like so many other reviewers of this book, I truly think this work stands out among the post 9/11 bunch. Admitingly, shortly after the terrorist attacks, I began searching out photography books. I purchased a fairly large one put out by Magnum Photographers which indeed seemed praiseworthy--considering the time they had to compile all the images. Some other books included The New York Times Portraits which, though incomplete, is an honorable testament to each victim.
A couple reviewers, however, seemed so disgusted at the inclusion of a picture showing a severed body part in this book, that they promptly returned it to the store. I have one thing to say in response: This book may very well be packaged nicely with an outer shell box and lovely matte paper inside, but it by no means claims to be trauma free. What are you people thinking? This is a "Democracy of Photographs," and the editors have no reason to sugarcoat the pages with less offensive material. I've seen much more disturbing scenes in Newsweek magazine and even on the cover of the New York Times--THE NEW YORK TIMES!
September 11th was probably one of the worst days of my life. I will never forget the sight of people jumping out of the towers and even seeing a couple holding hands falling to their death. And the purpose of this book through its moments of frozen time is to accomplish just that--never forget.
Although the book seems to take on a logical progression with several "pauses" from start to finish, one can certainly open to any page and sincerely be struck with feelings of rage, fear, despair and even hope. Except for the beginning and a little near the end, the lack of text only emboldens the book's strength. If you've held off this long to purchase a 9/11 book, this is the one to consider most worthy of your interest.

I first heard about this book on CNN, a few months after 9/11. I would stop at the book in the bookstore, and flip through. I could never get through more than 10 pages because it was too emotional. I finally bought the book, over two years later, and after a personal tragedy of my own, made myself get through it. The book is composed of so many photographs that are only a split-second in time, I found myself wondering what happened of so many of the subjects -- the man who picked up and read a random piece of paper out of thousands that had been blown out of the building, the woman on page 281 who reminded me all too much of the little girl running away from her napalm-bombed village in Vietnam in the famous photograph. I was not in New York on September 11. I was bartending, in a bar in Atlanta, where every television was on the news, and the packed restaurant sat silent. Though I still can't imagine what it was like after viewing this book, I have realized that September 11 was so many different experiences to so many people. Snapshots of many of those, even one similar to mine, are portrayed, and reinforces the magnitude and impact the events had on so many.
To get on my soapbox for a while, the "severed leg" picture -- not only was this picture justified in being included, as well as the pictures of persons jumping from the buildings, it was absolutely necessary in conveying the events to future generations. When we think of the holocaust, 6 million people is a difficult concept to grasp. But when we see pictures of mass graves, people in the ghettos, etc., we realize the value of each individual person, and how each of them didn't deserve their fate. Similar is my sentiment toward the more gruesome photographs. Their inclusion was absolutely necessary to convey the death of each individual person -- the pain they left behind, the family that will miss them, and how each person didn't simply disappear into a 8x11 flyer with their smiling picture in it.
One of the most powerful things in the book is the quote from which the title "Here is New York" was taken -- a segment written 50 years ago by E.B. White, ironically the author of "Charlotte's Web," the story so many of us read as children. It expresses his fear of how New York, in all of its glory and modernization, was incredibly vulnerable. The passage is incredibly prophetic.
When I have children, and they ask about these events, as I did when I became curious as to where my parents were when JFK was assassinated, I will show them this book.
If you can handle the impact of this book, I highly reccommend it. It will make you appreciate your loved ones more, it will make you remember what so many went through.

What happened on 9/11 was horrific, stunning and chilling. This book shows you what the scene was on that day and the days afterwards. Many comments have been made about the 1 photo of the unbelievable horror that occured that day. Yes, there was no sticker to tell you it was coming, but do you really think a book about 9/11 wouldn't include some photos that make us all disgusted? I have found too many publications that whitewash the event so as not to offend, but we lose our desire not to let it happen again as it becomes a distant memory. Many in this country have already forgotten that day and what it felt like and how sickening it was and if this book, however small, makes us remember how we felt that day and how proud we were to be Americans, then it is worth it over 1 photo.

This book is so special to me that I bought a copy to put away for my two year old son. It is important to me that someday he will fully grasp the enormity of that day and the consequences that he will experience from it throughout his life.

I fear that when he is old enough my words will not be able to adequately describe the horror, the sur-realism, the bravery, the shock, the grief, the anger and the courage that all became part of the legacy of that day. A picture is worth a thousand words and this book says it all.

I am sure that in looking through this book he will truly understand what his mother and countless others went through on Sptember 11.

Many years ago, well before 9-11 I worked in the Merrill Lynch building, one block away from the World Trade Center. I knew those downtown streets like the back of my hand. I have re-located to Virginia Beach and have lived here for 19 years and I cried when I saw the book.

I speak of NYC to my two boys as if I still live there. In fact, in September 2000, we were on the top floor of the World Trade Center to show my children the wonder of those towers.

To me, and many others, we feel the "people" and I say that gritting my teeth, who did this not only to New Yorkers' but to the world couldn't have done worse if they blew our individual homes.

This book is a book of hope, a book that brings out the best in people, a book that shows that many of the sterotypical ideas of New Yorkers are not true. It shows a horrific event and how a city came together to help each other. Yes, there are very graphic images, and yes, it makes us cry, but it's no less a part of history than the holocaust was, or genocide that maniacs in other countries commit. We can't shield our children forever, life is not hearts and flowers, but this book shows history, it shows the human spirit and it shows how a city pulled together.

I just got this book and it is the most comprehensive book out there on September 11th of what happened that day. I went through it all in one day and after I was finished the thoughts and emotions that went through me on that day all came back.

There are some pretty disturbing photographs in there so I would not recommend it for children or even for family members who lost someone in the trade center. I am sure you have read already about the leg photo but there is another one that i was as disturbed by. It was the one of the north tower by the impact hole where the plane went in. There are actually people standing in the hole looking down not sure what to do. I had never seen that picture before and I started crying thinking what could be going through those people's desperate minds.

As the two year anniversary of this horrid day is quickly approaching, this book will be a testament to what we went through that day here in New York and should be in your library to always remember what we went through as a nation and overcame as a nation.