Nine Months at Ground Zero: The Story of the Brotherhood of Workers Who Took on a Job Like No Other (Kindle Edition)

by Glenn Stout (Author), Charles Vitchers (Author), Robert Gray (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When the World Trade Center fell, construction superintendent Vitchers and crane operator Gray were among the hundreds of workers hired by one of the management firms selected by New York City's Department of Design and Construction to recover bodies and clear debris. The authors recall how tensions grew between construction workers and fire and police personnel as the latter focused their efforts on recovering the bodies of their colleagues, slighting civilian casualties, who received no honor guard or a flag as they were carried out of the pit. Aided by freelancer Stout, Vitchers and Gray have harsh words for the DDC, which often put bureaucratic and political concerns above the recovery process: "The faster and cheaper the work was done, the better the DDC would look." Morale was low, site safety was problematic and chaos often reigned at ground zero. Although it has some worthy moments—particularly, the demythologizing of the firefighters, the shoring up of the unstable slurry wall and the logistics of removing millions of tons of debris from a burial ground—this feels like an also-ran among the mass of 9/11 titles. 8 pages of color photos not seen by PW. (Apr. 25)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Although the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11 are etched into our consciousness, few of us understand the enormity of the task of the subsequent search and rescue and protracted debris removal. The shots of the site with the coming and going of trucks is the most any of us remember about the grueling cleanup project. As the men who originally built the towers, coauthors Charles Vitchers and Robert Gray were uniquely qualified to help. Unasked, they devoted nine months of their lives, not to mention the stress, sleep deprivation, and loss of family life that went along with it. The scale and complexity is nearly unfathomable: 400 million pounds of twisted steel; 600,000 square feet of thick shattered glass; and mountains of the trappings of office life, including chairs, desks, and other furnishings; all mixed with the scattered remains of almost 3,000 victims. Through this account of their heroic effort, beginning at the moment of first impact, we can begin to get a sense of what the men and women went through who dealt with the tragedy firsthand. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1037 KB
• Print Length: 272 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (April 25, 2006)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000GCFD0E
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #120,740 in Kindle Store (See Bestsellers in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsung Heros, April 24, 2006

By	Christen Jones "So proud" (Parkville, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Nine Months at Ground Zero: The Story of the Brotherhood of Workers Who Took on a Job Like No Other (Hardcover)

Wonderful book that captures what really went on to clear out Ground Zero and how recoveries were handled.. Charlie Vitchers is an amazing man and is so modest for all that he accomplished. He brought compassion to recovery. Without his direction and authority recovery and clear up would have been chaotic. I highly recommend this book if you want to know what really happened at Ground Zero on Sept 11, 2001

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 9/11 HEROS & ANGELS, May 26, 2006

By	Tom L. (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nine Months at Ground Zero: The Story of the Brotherhood of Workers Who Took on a Job Like No Other (Hardcover)

This book is a terrific account of the story of the recovery from the Pile to the Pit at the WTC Site. In contrast with the twisted and bitter 'American Ground' written by William Langewiesche some years ago, 'Nine Months's firsthand hand accounts from the rank and file men and women from the FDNY, NYPD and Constuction Trade show the human efforts and bursting hearts that forged those involved in the recovery into a band of brothers. Their desperate efforts and hopes again inspire us through this account.

It was worth waiting for until now to hear their stories in their own words and much applause to Glenn Stout, Charlie Vitchers and Robert Gray for putting this together for the rest of us. No one should miss it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We owe a debt of gratitude, May 31, 2006

By	Scott Downes - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Nine Months at Ground Zero: The Story of the Brotherhood of Workers Who Took on a Job Like No Other (Hardcover)

The "outside world" owes a debt of gratitude to the men and women who worked hard to respectfully recover those who were killed on 9/11.
This book goes a long way to bring those of use who observed from afar closer to what happened in the aftermath.
The courage to step up and the morality to do what is right is imbedded in these individuals.
Thank you.