Customer Reviews

September 11: A Testimony

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What a outstanding tribute to those who lost their lives, their families and friends, and those who responded to the tragedy. The days of September 11 profoundly affected me and I felt it extremely important that there be some way to document the events that took place that day. I have purchased several books on the tragedy, not to be morbid or to embrace death and destruction, but to instead celebrate life. I want something to show my family that will make them understand what happened and how we as a nation can and should respond to the such events.

Be warned, though our memories will fade, this book will bring tears to your eyes and make you recall from what we have been going through these past several months. This is a wonderful tribute and historical documentation from the photographers of Reuters. You'll recognize a lot of the photographs in this book that appeared in the news media. And while there are some that do focus on the horrific events that played out in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., it appears to me that the publishers meant for the whole focus to be on what our nation did as a response. As an example, there is a picture in there from Seattle, my hometown, for example, and the huge memorial ceremony that was played out there.

The book has very little prose, subtly providing captions on the opposite page.

I would say that this is the best of the books I own on the subject. This is a book that gives us a chance to reflect on who we are as human beings and ways to make things better for future generations.

The publisher presents this as a quiet, moving, but powerful tribute to those who died and those who responded to the tragedy. Thank you to Reuters photographers, and to the publisher, Prentice Hall, for documenting this so well for generations and historians to come.

This is a beautiful and poignant memorial to those who died and those who mourn the events of that day. Very little text accompanies each photo, the photos are so powerful that they stand alone. I highly recommend this to anyone who wishes to preserve the memories of this day as a tribute to the victims of September 11.

This is by far the best of all the books I have seen on the September 11th. Unlike most, which seem to be quickly put together and are in paperback, this book is a hardcover book and contains first-rate photography. This is an outstanding book for historians. Thankfully, it does not dwell on the tragedies of the day, but spends most of its 260 pages looking at the way American's came together and let's the photographers of Reuters - through the pictures - tell the story that unfolded that day and in the days that followed in the United States.

While I bought the Life book One Nation and I think that they did a good book, if you buy only one book on the subject, this should be the book. I was truly impressed.

The images in "Look Inside the Book" for September 11: A Testimony don't do this book justice, but are a good representation of the effort that was put into this book. The photography is far superior in this book than is represented here on Amazon and on a high-quality paper bound in cloth.

The only sad thing is that such a great book had to be published on such a horrible event. But like the another person here said, this is definitely the book that historians and the rest of us should use as a way to remember September 11.

The photographs in this book on the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC. create an overly artistic impression, that doesn't reflect the reality.

I don't appreciate Reuters' refusal to term the attacks terrorism--that is, premeditated acts that randomly targeted civilians for political gain.

It's also extremely unfortunate that Reuters' included a photograph of a classic Yasser Arafat publicity stunt--his blood donation--while omitting photographs of tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs celebrating the attacks.

Reuters' faulty editorial decisions fatally mar the editorial content of this book. Terrorism is terrorism. Reuters should have scraped politics and called a spade a spade.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

You may think you've seen all the pictures in this book, but study them carefully. They form an excellent roundup of events, starting with the dust jacket shot of the Statue of Liberty in the foreground as orange/red smoke pours from the World Trade Center.

This collection, from the Reuters news agency, will bring fresh tears to your eyes. Take a look at the impromptu memorial to a firefighter named Matthew Diaz. Or the stunned faces of the executives, police officers, and firefighters as they stumble from the site after the collapse of the towers.

Or the Pentagon pictures, framed touchingly to show the damage to the Pentagon, with the Capitol glowing in the background. And the pictures of survivors of the Pennsylvania crash victims.

What the book does better than some of the other Sept.11 books is show the response from around the country, an important record and reminder this wasn't just an event on the East Coast.

This is a book having, for now and the future, when memories fade and we need a reminder of the cruelty wrought on that day.

I felt a sense of waste when while browsing the book at a local bookstore I found the photo of Yasser Arafat donating blood.After wondering why Reuters did it I found out that they in fact refuse to call the acts of 9-11-01 "terrorism".Is this enough to grant this book full of splendid photography with very good(although scarce) text just one star?.....

Take for example Caleb Carr's " The Lessons of Terror " where Mr.Carr's compares the actions of our Air Force,US Marine Corps Aviation and US Naval Aviation flyers over the skies of South East Asia with those of terrorists.Carr uses the discredited and historically inaccurate assertions of indiscriminate carpet bombing of North Vietnam(specially Hanoi) to make his point.Napalm is presented as if it was used on purpose over civilians when in fact those were errors or friendly fire incidents.It is a small part of Mr.CArr's work in " The Lessons of Terror " but it is enough to place into question his work. It made me feel repugnancy towards the book.

The same applies to this book but in a rather more emotional way. Amazon asks us to rate books,which can be something done following a strictly objective,factual data or a mix of it with some op-ed subjectivity.Then,however,you can rate something out of the full range of emotions you get from your reading experience.All are legitimate.....

Therefore,I must say I can not feel comfortable with this book due to Reuter's apalling stand regarding their refusal of calling the atrocity a "terrorist act".It's in that context that the photo of Arafat results inflammatory because it seems to make the point for those that push the theory of equivalency and relativism between the terrorists' acts and the United States'....

While I can understand some other reviewer's displeasure regarding the Arafat photo, that shouldn't inaccurately affect the general impression of this book. This is DEFINITELY the finest, most complete photo-based book regarding the horrendous events of 9.11.01 that I have seen (and I have looked at ALL of them). I wanted a book that accurately and comprehensively illustrated the events of that day, and this book fits the bill to a tee. Other books have had powerful images and/or compelling thematic conceits, but this book best visually documents the various emotions and responses from the events. In particular, see the photos on pages 15, 29, 31, 39, 45, 75, 85, 97, 109, 121, 145, 165, 179, 205, 229, and 231 for some of the most indelible images of this day. An amazing book, and the best book devoted to September 11th thus far released.

This is a powerful collection of photos and words. I like this volume better than any of the others I have seen since the 11th. The production is very professional, the pictures all look good-even those that are obviously from other sources and look somewhat grainy. A great book in that regard. The only thing that has kept me from buying this is that Reuters refused to call this an act of Terrorism!...

I felt a sense of waste when while browsing the book at a local bookstore I found the photo of Yasser Arafat donating blood.After wondering why Reuters did it I found out that they in fact refuse to call the acts of 9-11-01 "terrorism".Is this enough to grant this book full of splendid photography with very good(although scarce) text just one star?.....

Take for example Caleb Carr's " The Lessons of Terror " where Mr.Carr's compares the actions of our Air Force,US Marine Corps Aviation and US Naval Aviation flyers over the skies of South East Asia with those of terrorists.Carr uses the discredited and historically inaccurate assertions of indiscriminate carpet bombing of North Vietnam(specially Hanoi) to make his point.Napalm is presented as if it was used on purpose over civilians when in fact those were errors or friendly fire incidents.It is a small part of Mr.CArr's work in " The Lessons of Terror " but it is enough to place into question his work. It made me feel repugnancy towards the book.

The same applies to this book but in a rather more emotional way. Amazon asks us to rate books,which can be something done following a strictly objective,factual data or a mix of it with some op-ed subjectivity.Then,however,you can rate something out of the full range of emotions you get from your reading experience.All are legitimate.....

Therefore,I must say I can not feel comfortable with this book due to Reuter's apalling stand regarding their refusal of calling the atrocity a "terrorist act".It's in that context that the photo of Arafat results inflammatory because it seems to make the point for those that push the theory of equivalency and relativism between the terrorists' acts and the United States'....

The staff of Reuters did an excellent job. Still very interesting book, even or maybe because time that just passed. If you are a serious researcher or the buff of excellent photojourmalism try also these volumes: ENDURE-RENWAL FROM GROUN ZERO, a fascinating, quite excellent and disturbingly "quiet" photobook about 9/11, and the SEPTEMBER 11 BY MAGNUM PHOTOGRAPHERS, memorable and strong effort by the Magnum photographers.