Customer Reviews

The Second Tower's Down

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4 star:		(1)
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John McCole has done something amazing in this book. His vivid descriptions of the carnage are so gut-wrenching that the reader sometimes wonders if it will be bearable to turn the page. At the same time, it is impossible to put the book down.

John's honesty about his emotional and physical state through all the grueling weeks of work at Ground Zero is truly remarkable. I found myself almost "becoming" a NY firefighter, as if I were actually experiencing each situation with John and the other firefighters.

I have read other accounts of 9/11 and its aftermath, but this is really the BEST of them all. The reason I say this is because even though the pain, sorrow and destruction sears a path straight through your heart, at the end of the book is great hope and inspiration. John discovered a way to alleviate the emotional pain and physical destruction of his days at Ground Zero, and he shares this with us all. He shows us that even under the worst of circumstances, something CAN be done about it, and he then proceeds not only to do it for himself, but makes sure that all his firefighting brethren can benefit as well.

I would like to thank John McCole for lifting us up from the effects of our tragedy, and pointing us to the way out of the trauma of 9/11. This book is definitely a MUST-READ for every American!

After 9/11, the American people gained a new respect for those who work in the emergency services. Before that attack, how many publishers would have thought of producing a book by a New York firefighter?

Each plane carried 15,000 gallons of fuel, which when ignited by the impact caused 1000-degree fires. Each impact was about a million tons. More than 300 firefighters were killed. The attacks showed how cowardly and ugly terrorism is - the Vietnamese never resorted to terrorism, despite years of aggression and occupation, of chemical and biological attacks and repeated nuclear threats.

Think of the sheer courage it took to run into the burning towers that morning, to evacuate everyone that they could. They have a working class pride in doing your job: "We all continued to do our jobs. That was our hallmark."

Afterwards, the hellish horror, the sights, sounds and smells, the shock, played over and over again in their minds. 400 firefighters with sleeping eating and breathing problems had to take medical leave. The employer offered no help to those stuck in grief and loss. So McCole took responsibility for his workmates' health, insisting that the union got the firefighters to follow a programme of diet, exercise and saunas.

On the anthrax threats, McCole writes with working class common sense, "the news didn't help, sensationalising every last bit of it. Sometimes it seemed like the news was worse than what had really happened." He writes, "no lasting peace was ever sustained by victory in war alone."

He ends with an eloquent appeal: "For those of us in the Fire Department, caring for the families of our brotherhood has become a part of our everyday affairs. But the responsibility to do likewise will be borne by everyone in some way, somehow. As the years roll on, the most positive effect that the events of 9/11 can have is that we recognise we all share the common purpose of caring for one another. I can only hope that the compassion shown by my brothers in the Fire Department on that fateful day will be an example to others in the years to come. I'm proud to have served with you."

Lt. McCole's book was a very personal account of this tragedy that gave me a new understanding of 9-11. I got a clear picture of what the day to day operation of cleaning up was like and it wasn't pretty. His sharing of how he dealt with this and how he came through it was inspirational. JV - Florida

This 166 page volume written by a serving FDNY line officer gives a different perspective on the FDNY's heroic battle on 9/11 and the activities in the weeks that followed. The other books written previously on this tragic event were done mainly by senior officers and were partially "ghost" written by professional writers. John McCole is a young lieutenant in the FDNY and has served both as a firefighter and officer in various parts of the city, including a stunt as an instructor at the NYC Fire Academy. In this book, he tells of his own first hand experiences on that tragic day and in the following weeks as the search for the remains of those 343 brave men was conducted. He uses direct, no nonsense, first person language, in this very interesting volume. This book should be a must for anyone interested in the fire service and the tremendous and costly battle fought by the FDNY in an effort to save thousands of lives at the World Trade Center. The book is enriched by several pages of both color and black and white photos taken by the author on the day of the tragedy.

This book is not a recollection of facts, cold and harsh, but rather the experience of a man who, despite training his whole life for this kind of experience, finds himself irrevocably changed by September 11th. I felt I was living the aftermath of Ground Zero with him - the present-time living intermingled with the backflashes of horror and grief that must be either be drowned out or dealt with eventually. (And in my own faint mirror of his story, I can relate. Although I am a stay-at-home mom living thousands of miles away, I know the experience of having the horror of September 11th creep back into my consciousness, bringing with it moments of grief and loss. I can only imagine how much more intense this must be for a man like McCole, who grew up with firefighters in New York and, as a Lieutenant who was not assigned to a particular firehouse, worked with many of those firefighters who were lost at the World Trade Center.)

Lt. McCole, consistent with the courage that firefighters display when challenged by physical threats on a daily basis, chose to confront both the mental and emotional pain of September 11th, and the physical trauma that affected him as it has so many of the firefighters who worked at Ground Zero. Likewise, in this same tradition of heroism, he shares his tale of how he worked to bring the same solace and help to his fellow firefighters. And so the story becomes not just a maudlin tale of the aftermath of terrorism, but a tale of one man's spiritual journey and his determination to bring help of a more lasting kind, to his fellow heroes.

This book sat on my shelf for two months, unread. I feared that reading it would feel like slowing down on a freeway in order to gawk at the scene of a terrible accident, or like watching some grisly murder story that the news tends to sensationalize it a macabre circus these days. Instead, I found myself challenged spiritually and deeply grateful for the glimpse into the heart and mind of a truly courageous hero. Thank you, Lt. McCole, for your contributions above and beyond the call of duty.

This book is gut-wrenching. Lt. McCole took me right back into the bowels of the most horrible place on Earth following Sept 11, 01.
He recalls events with uncanny precision and fills the readers mind with a moving tapastry of the spirit-numbing horror which stunned our great nation.
He doesn't hold back anything and surprised me at his honesty. Few firefighters I know ever let others in that close to their soul.
He offers wisdom to a country that lost its remaining innocence and sound solutions for those that suffer health problems from serving at that horrible place.
I read it from cover to cover in one sitting...I had no other choice.
Thank you Brother John.

Mr. McCole has written a riveting book from the perspective of someone who was right there. I couldn't put it down.
I work as a taxi driver in New York City. Since 9/11 I have talked to literally hundreds of New Yorkers about their experiences on that fateful day. So I know how this event has affected the lives of the people here.
For example, a few weeks ago a young lady in my taxi (on a long ride to Brooklyn) told me that she was in the WTC that day, in the first tower that was hit. She went through the horror of it, telling me how she had seen skin falling off the bodies of burn victims and how she had heard the thuds of the bodies of people who had jumped. It was quite clear from listening to this woman that the mental effects of the disaster were still weighing quite heavily on her.
That's what is so remarkable about the story that John McCole tells. We of course admire the courage of the firefighters and all of the rescue workers. But what is perhaps no less heroic is how McCole decided to take responsibility for healing himself both physically and mentally. And the fact that he chose to tell his very personal story is something that must also have taken extraordinary courage.
So I strongly recommend this book.
In fact, if I ever get McCole in my cab, he gets a free ride!

I didn't read the newspapers or watch TV from Sept. 11th till about October sometime 2001.

My husband flew out of Boston on that morning and even though he landed safely at La Guardia Airport about 10 min. before the first plane hit, I was still so shaken up that I didn't want to get any more upset. I am a humanitarian and that's what I do full time and on a daily basis. I had to have my wits about me so I got all of my news off of the internet for about 15 min. in the evening before going to bed.

But I was extremely interested in what happened at Ground Zero and I even went to volunteer there at the beginning of October.

I read SECOND TOWER'S DOWN in less than 48 hours.

John McCole tells what it was like both physically and emotionally to go through this tragedy from day one. How often do you get to speak with a firefighter and have him tell his story?

This is a MUST READ. I especially liked his descriptions of his family and his interrelationships with his fellow "brothers", the FDNY, New York's finest.

Men who tell what they are thinking and what they are doing and how it affects them and what their opinions are about everyday situations always fascinate me. But Sept.11th was an experience like we've never had before and to be able to listen in while John McCole tells you in simple words and ideas how he survived being there and seeing what he saw is worth sitting down and experiencing.

If you want to help your local fire department then get 10 copies and deliver them in person or by mail to the different fire houses. I'm sure they would appreciate it.

The book reads well. I finished it in a week. I do wish the author would have given a bit more information about his own family history and past. The fact that he is divorced and has other children is divulged quite late in the book. I think he could also have gone more in depth about his feelings and those of his brother firefigheters.

The Second Tower's Down provides a firefighter's story recalling the horror of September 11th and its aftermath. Off-duty fireman John McCole's life was changed as he and colleagues rushed to the aid of New Yorkers. Plenty of accounts have provided third-person reflection of events: this excels in its powerful first-person abservations, paired with the author's unique photos of Ground Zero, presented here in color.