Customer Reviews

On Top of the World : Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11: A Story of Loss and Renewal

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

Living in NYC and having a cousin who worked and died at Cantor Fitzgerald, i was interested to read about that day and what the company did afterwards......I couldn't put the book down. What an amazing story of perserverance in such a time of sadness and shock. You realize while reading this what a bum deal Howard Lutnick got at first from the media, when he was doing everything in his power to keep the business going so that the victims could get money while at the same time mourning his brother, best friend and 656 of his employees.

This book also has stories of others at Cantor who weren't at the building at the time of the attack due to a missed train, a meeting or vacation. There is also the stories of the phone calls from those in the building to other Cantor offices and families.

This book has it all, it will make you cry, it will make you remember and most of all it will make you feel proud to see a company survive due to the sheer determination of its CEO and surviving employees to make sure that the families of their dead collegues are taken care of.

This well-written, easy-to-read book follows the ordeal of Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost more than 600 people in the World Trade Center attacks. The company was at the top of the first tower, right under Windows on the World and no one who was in the office at that time escaped. Fortunately, Howard Lutnick, who ran the company, went in late that day because it was his son's first day of kindergarten. He lost his only brother, his best friend and obviously a huge percentage of his employees in the attack. Lutnick, who before Sept. 11, had a barracuda-like reputation, was first exalted then vilified by the press (and the survivors of his murdered employees) after the attacks. (Largely because he stopped the employees' paychecks while families were still in denial.) The book follows him as he struggles to do the right thing -- which ultimately is keeping the company alive so that 25% of its profits can go to the survivors. A lot of people get fixated on the paycheck issue but it's obvious that if Lutnick had also died in this attack, the company would have gone under and there would have been no money at all. The book also describes many of the personalities at Cantor and the ways they interacted in a much more real way than the NYT Portraits of Grief. The full list of the dead is at the front of the book -- the fact that there are pages and pages of names from just this one company is horrifying. It's really a fine tribute to the strength of a bunch of spirited people, both living and deceased.

First of all "On Top of the World" would not have been able to have been written if Howard Lutnick had died on September 11, 2001. Cantor-Fitzgerald, as a viable company, would have died along with its 658 employees. The fact that Mr. Lutnick lived and; despite the loss of his beloved brother and most of his best friends, was able to figure out a way to bring CF and the remaining NY/England employees and systems together to save the company in JUST TWO DAYS were just outstanding. I probably would crawled into a corner for months. The book is very sad reading because of the magnitude of personal loss endured. Don't expect a happy, carefree ending. The fact that Mr. Lutnick has kept his promises and sometimes had to go above the montary amount to keep these promises shows the man has integrity despite his "reputation" on the Street. He also kept CF a viable company for his surviving employees. Good for you Mr. Lutnick, your wife, your sister, your friends and to Mr. Barbash for writing your story.

A good friend of mine worked at Cantor Fitzgerald and was among those lost on September 11th. I read this book in one sitting - I couldn't put it down. The devastation that this event caused to the people of Cantor Fitzgerald who lost so many of their family members and friends is astonishing. 955 children who lost parents, twenty sets of siblings who perished. I found that I wanted to be part of the team of people that tried to rebuild the company and help the families of those who were lost.
I'll never look back on September 11th the same.

Howard Lutnick has been vilified in the press and on TV - I found his grief on TV deeply moving and have had no reason since to doubt his sincerity. The book shows Mr. Lutnick personally and deeply challenged by the terrible tragedy that was 9/11. I recommend reading this book. Give the man a chance.

I bought this on a whim after reading its review in the NY Times, even though the book received some pretty shallow reviews in the paper news. I was ecstatic just to see that a substantial chunk of the profits are going to the Cantor Relief Fund. In a time when many are trying to put 9/11 behind us as a society, so much that we are tired of being overwhelmed with tribute books and reminders, memoires and photo journals, I thought the effort was fabulous. What odds Lutnick had to overcome and what strength he had to find every day, and he survived. I can honestly say I feel great disappointment over Connie Chung and O'Reilly, as well as many members of the Cantor family who do not deserve to have this man care so much about them. Howard Lutnick and those employees who stood by him are remarkable, and this book proves the resillience of those who are determined to overcome an almost complete anihilation of all they had built with their bare hands, and resurrect it into something truly amazing to witness. These guys touched our hearts after 9/11, and it's magnificent to see they have made it this far. I am still pulling for them, maybe more than ever after this book.

I was unfamiliar with Mr. Lutnick or his company before 9/11 as I do not work in the investment arena. However, like many Americans, I was glued to the screen during the tragedy on that date and during the aftermath.

For me, that day held a dual personal note in that I have personally spent lots of time at the Trade Center when in NYC on business (the WTC Marriott was always my hotel choice), I actually had visited my brother's office there at the Trade Center with my 2 year old daughter a week to the day before the attack (for the Labor Day holiday).

My brother works for Merrill Lynch, and on that day, I was uncertain for hours whether he had survived. Fortunately, he did. Therefore, unlike many on the West Coast,due to my brother's proximity to the situation, I felt particularly attached to the tragedy. Thankfully, I fortunately do not share the fact of loss of a loved one on 9/11. Nevertheless, I felt keenly what that loss would be like during the several hours that I feared that I had lost my brother.

All of this is to say that -- I know how difficult it must be for Mr. Lutnick to have lost his brother and close friends yet bear responsibility for keeping his company afloat in the midst of grieving.

I am an employee benefits/employment law attorney and when I saw Mr. Lutnick on television that first night indicating that he would "take care of the families" I immediately thought -- does he realize what a commitment he is making? From a purely legal standpoint, his promise was far outside of his actual liability under the circumstances. It was clear to me that his promises were stated without benefit of legal advice -- simply from his sense of personal loss and sense of responsibility.

From that point, I have followed the news on Cantor as Mr. Lutnick's grief that first evening so touched me. I thank him for sharing the moving story of those first weeks during the aftermath with readers. I am amazed that anyone doubts his sincerity. I sincerely hope that the company continues to thrive and that Mr. Lutnick is vindicated.

The fortitude demonstrated by this man during this personal tragedy sheds light on why he has been so successful professionally. It was courageous of him to reveal the personal tragedies and challenges that he has had to surmount along the way in his life.

My life experiences as a Black woman are quite removed from the lavish lifestyle that Mr. Lutnick probably enjoyed in his position at Cantor. Yet, I can fully appreciate his compassion, dedication, loyalty and hard work ethic that has sustained him through this ordeal. As far as I am concerned, the man is a real life hero due to the humanity of his spirit. I wish him and his company well.

How does one begin to describe this book? It captures what life was like for those men and women at the very center of the World Trade Center Attacks. It tells a fascinating business story, and then the complicated tale of Lutnick and his "families" those left behind. The book does not take sides as much as it simply and eloquently presents the days and nights of people pushed to their limits - it explores motivations, decisions, human responses - all with grace and dignity and ultimately with a degree of hope. This is the book about 911 we've all been waiting for.

Not living on the East Coast,one might think you understand what the victims and survivors went through. But a book like this gives a vivid picture of just what the ramifications were from so many perspectives. I was aware of the losses by Cantor Fitzgerald but was not that aware of the negative press about Howard Lutnick (not an O'Reilly fan). One may be skeptical of any book that portrays a man so heroically, but if half is true, I am incredibly impressed. It would have been understandable for most anyone in his position to have closed the doors of the company. To have the presence of mind to work through his own personal loss and keep the company going under such circumstances shows there are people in this world that are just born to lead. Almost as impressive was the dedication shown by the other members of his company, especially in the days immediately following the attack. Great story and well written.

This book made me do even more thinking about fate, whether I wanted to or not. it was hard to put down even though I didnt want to read it.its compelling. I wanted to read someone elses story since my own is too familiar. I, like Lutnick, waited for word from a loved one(my husband) on that awful day, to say that he was alive and safe..my husband came home, Lutnicks brother and most of his entire company didnt. this book is worth reading even considering the fact that so many have been written in the past year and a half. its worth reading about that day and him and the impact of the aftermath of Sept 11 on Cantor Fitzgerald.This was difficult to read(topic speaking) but worth reading, however painful......