Customer Reviews

Sometime Lofty Towers: A Photographic Memorial of the World Trade Center

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First of all, I liked this book a lot. Incredible photos and like another reviewer pointed out, no real overly sappy commentary.
But someone who wrote a review before mentioned that they'd rather not have the 9/11 photos in the book. Understandable, but I think the style in which this book was put together is powerful. To show photos of the once magnificent and strong towers on one page and then the devistation on another only re-emphasizes and reaffirms that we will never forget what happened that day.

Robert Hutchinson captures the innermost workings of western civilization in his moving photographic tribute to the spirit of New York. Its power and beauty are symbolized by the World Trade Towers. And now in the aftermath of 911 so is its passion. I hazard that many of us who once lived in Manhattan and have since moved away have forgotten how much we loved New York. Hutchinson reminds us how much of a state of mind the city is. For you can never truly move away. Just as we can never truly move away from the verity infused in the Bard's sonnet that the author briliantly matches to the stretchings and tragedy of modernity in the tower's tragic end. In a single allusion, he redeems the tragedy. The coldly compelling text describing the impacts and collapse of the towers stands in bleak and deathly juxtaposition to the soaring inspiration of New York. For as real as the towers is the kind of society that built, used, and toiled in it. It is an international, indeed global society, a triumph of western ideas of tolerance, inclusion, vibrancy, freedom. In my Columbia University days we used to refer to the neighborhood as "Bagdad on Hudson," in celebration of the rich diversity and energy of the place. That in the end was the target of the attack. Hutchinson's memorial helps us weep for the victims, recognize the simple heroism of ordinary inhabitants ... and holds up a mirror to our glory.

Browntrout Publishers, the writer Robert Hutchinson, and the photographer Jake Rajs have achieved something extrordinary. Six weeks after September 11, 2001, they have produced a gripping, breathtaking, timeless memorial to the World Trade Center. "Sometime Lofty Towers" (the Shakespearean sonnet to which the title alludes seems eerily prescient) tells the story of the creation and destruction of the Twin Towers with heartbreaking, riveting photographs by Rajs and an equally heartbreaking, riveting essay by Hutchinson. There is a grandeur, solemnity, and physicality to Hutchinson's style that perfectly suits the subject. He seems to build the Twin Towers for us from the ground up, making us marvel at the ingenuity of their design; his concluding account of precisely how the two terrorist-guided planes annihilated the towers thus seems all the more awful and tragic. This is a fitting tribute indeed for the World Trade Center--and for those to whom Hutchinson eloquently dedicates the book, "the heroic rescuers who died striving in the name of mercy."

When sometime lofty towers I see down razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage ....

It will always be difficult to grasp the enormity of September 11. The immense loss of life, the towering buildings reduced to rubble, the massive amounts of ensuing information, all left me feeling helpless and overwhelmed. The sheer volume of the catastrophe made me long for something tangible, something I could hold in my hands.

What I finally found was Sometime Lofty Towers, a quiet, beautifully compiled tribute to the World Trade Center. The breathtaking photographs by Jake Rajs (et al) of the towers - which at one time would have been memorable for their composition and technical expertise - are now infused with loss. From the elegant long shot of the towers rising through a night sky, to the inspiring ant's-eye view of soaring steel, to the chilling sight of a smoke-filled skyline forever altered, each portrait has been transformed into something uniquely emotional.

The photographs do not stand alone. The introduction, by Robert Hutchinson, was a revelation. Mr. Hutchinson has the uncanny ability to take a dizzying amount of information and make it instantly comprehensible. He takes us through the buildings' conception and creation and makes their vital statistics meaningful. He describes the two airliners that brought them down, then, most importantly, explains how they brought them down, using a skillful mix of hard numbers and easily understood comparisons. ("The weight ratio between one WTC Tower and one Boeing 767-200ER equals that between a 275 lb human being and a 1 ounce sparrow. How could (one airplane) have such a devastating effect on a WTC Tower?")

I was grateful for the dignity of this book. Its prose was beautifully written, sorrowful without being overwrought; its photographs were striking, memorable without being graphic. And it even let me help: the publishers will donate a portion of the sale of each book to the Uniformed Firefighters Association's Widows' and Children's Fund. I highly recommend it.

This is the best book that I have read thus far on the destruction of the Twin Towers and thousands of lives on September 11th. It is true that this book contains very little text and it is very techinical. But in light of the inaccuracies and misunderstandings about the structures, this book is vital for anyone to understand what actually happened.

As an intern in architecture I was dismayed hearing in the popular media about steel beams/columns melting, that the impact of the planes caused the towers' collapse, etc.

This book puts the towers, their structures and ultimate destruction to light. Those who are seeking that truth will find this book invaluable.

This book does contain some stunning photographs, especially those showing the many ways that these two lost towers played with light and space. Together the juxtaposition of these photographs and the text make for a fitting tribute.

When I checked this book out at my local library I went home and read it. There are thankfully not many of the actual attacks, more of the towers as they stood and how they were seen by the public. The pictures were great and made me feel like I was standing in the lobby or looking out onto the skyline. The pictures are a great preservation of the WTC.

This book is a photographic memorial to moments and scenes we have all loved. It will make your spirits soar!

Our beautiful Trade Towers in every mood, viewed from many perspectives we all wish we had seen in person. If you worked in, lived near or visited the buildings you will be taken back to your moment, the last time you experienced this beloved symbol of New York City, indeed the nation.

With quiet dignity, as it should be, these photographs recall their breathtaking beauty not their tragedy. This stunning book is my choice for keeping alive the integration of these buildings in time and place.

A description of the events, detailed and factual, a review of the attributes of the buildings as they stood, holding up as long as they could against the cruel blows, long enough to save thousands before they collapsed, is included.

Hutchinson's remarkable ability to express our feelings makes this book a choice rememberance of the loss we all suffered. It is factual but sensitive...The book is a tribute to the excellence of the people who designed, worked and photographed the World Trade Center, and those who died there.

The quote of Governor George Pataki sums up the sentiments of all Americans.....and the short sonnet by William Shakespeare is stunning in it's simplicity and is profoundly appropriate.

When sometime lofty towers I see down razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage...
This thought is a death which cannot choose
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.

I will keep this book.

There are currently many books available on the World Trade Centers, both before and after the tragedy of September 11th. This one, with photographs by Rajs, has more than forty breath-taking shots, along with some very technical information in regard to the planes which crashed into the trade centers. It is a mixture of both past and present. The photography was the book's strong point.

On the downside, I found the book to be extremely short, and the technical aspect as far as construction of the trade centers and physical dimensions of aircraft, personally, did not interest me to any great extent. There is a tribute in print published by Life Magazine that, in my opinion, far surpasses this one. While "Sometime Lofty Towers" contains beautiful photography and interesting facts, if I personally was purchasing a book as a memorial or keepsake, I would opt for the one by Life Magazine. It truly is magnificent, as are most publications by Life.

Yes, the photographs are beautifully composed and quite striking, the text good if occaisionally flowery. The interspersion of 9/11 photos are what I could do without. My memories of the WTC are of gleaming towers of strength and pride, not smoking husks. Some readers will find their memories reflected in these pages, some will not. Consider how you wish to remember the WTC before you select a photo tribute book.