Customer Reviews

Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're looking for an excellent book about 9/11, then look no further. This book will give the reader a clear idea of what it must've been like to actually be there in Manhatten and see the carnage first-hand. Read the true stories of men & women who experienced 9/11 and learn about how it has changed their lives forever. See the horrors from their perspective; the fires, the smoke, the debris, the falling bodies, the pandemonium, the collapse the the towers, and the aftermath. This book is a must have.

I was wondering when somebody was going to put something out about this tragedy that wasn't a self-serving glorification or woe-is-us pablum. This book tells it like it was, in the hours and days after this horrible event, in the words of the people who were there, and elsewhere. DiMarco has done an incredible job of deciding what to include in this as each first person account is different, with different emotions and reasons for being. Some people you want to smack in the head for some of the things they say, like this one NY detective who talks about the ways of the street and how to get suspected terrorists to talk and how much he thinks the FBI is useless, and yet you also side with him because he seems to get results-- in his own limited world-view scope. Others break your heart with their stories of loss-- like the lead singer of the New York band The Bogmen whose wife Kristy perished in the Towers, and who years earlier had started the charity Secret Smiles,(to which DiMarco has pledged a portion of the royalties) and the husband of a flight attendant who was on the plane that went down in PA. He tells an incredible story of his incredibly life-loving wife-- you get to know her in his few page contribution that you end up crying your eyes out when it's finally revealed what he goes through when her fate is revealed. And that's predominantly what it's like to read Tower Stories. My wife is a pretty hard-nosed New Yorker but she spent an entire night sobbing and laughing while reading this book. It really captures the history of that horrible day as best I can tell, at least from what I imagine. Like the Chairman of the 9/11 Commission Tom Kean says in the foreword, this book continues the tradition of The Grapes of Wrath and The Disinherited and most of Stud's Terkel's work in that it creates a time-capsule for all eternity. Thankfully someone has done it. Let's just hope it's never again needed.

I believe that, years from now, two documents will survive as the recognized history of September 11th: the 9/11 Commission Report and Damon DiMarco's incredible oral history.

The Commission Report offers in-depth documentation of the attack and the forces preceding it. But it falls short of providing the personal recollections so vital to understanding history.

TOWER STORIES picks up where the Commission Report leaves off. It humanizes stark fact and grants us the priceless opportunity to reach our own understanding of the event we must never forget.

Let me start by saying this:

I'm a retired Chief for the United States Navy and when I was in the Service, I got a chance to tour a lot of countries on this planet - first hand and up close. Some of them are great and some of them are not so great. The truth is that none of them come close to being the United States of America.

I'm not waving any flags here. I'm saying that - from what I've seen - this country is the best experiment in human rights ever attempted throughout history. Yes, we've got our problems. Sure we do. Democracy is like the wood saw I keep out in my tool shed; you have to keep sharpening the edge if you want it to work real good.

But just as people most people don't fully appreciate the freedoms offered to us here as citizens of the U.S., I think a lot of people don't know how to react to the attacks on September 11th. And that's why TOWER STORIES is important.

I liked a lot of things about this book. First, it's a broad collection. Reading each story, I was able to see view the attacks and the aftermath from multiple perspectives. This was especially important for me since I live in the South. I spent 9/11 and the days after glued to my television set, trying to figure out what was going on. I desperately wanted to know more. Three years later, this book closed a lot of holes for me.

Second, when you read this book you hear the voices of the people who were actually there. I'm an amateur student of history, so I appreciate first person recollections. Oral history is the purest form of history available, and I wish that more events throughout history had been recorded as thoroughly as Mr. DiMarco did these interviews. This book is a tremendous undertaking.

Finally - and maybe most important - I appreciated TOWER STORIES because I believe it will outlast the politicians and media pundits who are circling in to make 9/11 a campaign marketing issue. THANK GOD TOWER STORIES rises above! It's a real and necessary contribution to American history. In the midst of turbulent times, I found it inspirational, moving and refreshingly real.

Hats of to Mr. DiMarco. I will look forward to more of his work. To borrow a line from Commissioner Kean's foreword, "With regard to 9/11, we - as a people - cannot allow a myth to take root...Move forward we must."

This book is great and gives the outsider a clear glimps into the devistation and heroism of the tragedy on 9/11 and the months that followed. Each story leaves the reader with a message that makes one truly think and reflect on the tragedy. This book is a touching tribute to those lost, the heroes born, and the city that pulled it together to rise out of the ashes!

That's where I first saw mention of this book. I guess it was the author being interviewed. He seemed well-spoken, not some political pundit talking crap about 9/11. I found that appealing so I bought the book. Glad I did, too. Because I think a lot of people used 9/11 as some kind of American pity party but this book doesn't go there. It's a lot more subtle than that. It shows you lots of different takes on the same event. Some of the perspectives are in your face, some are really touching, some are odd, some are borderline cruel. But you know what? That's the human species to me in a nutshell. I hate people who immortalize 9/11 as a day of heroes. I was in New York that day, I saw what happened. Yes, there was heroism and we should celebrate it. We should also take a step back and look at the whole picture. The mistakes that were made, the errors in policy that let the whole thing happen, the opportunism of certain individuals, the complex reactions. Certain people in our current federal government may have used 9/11 as an excuse to launch the only pre-emptive war in American history. If for no other reason, I think this book's deserves to become a new Classic. Universities should make it required reading for political science courses studying terrorism, American foreign policy, and history. It's a true snapshot of our past.

This book is an awesome look into what really happened with People who were involved with the Towers. It is very touching and inspirational as well. I would recommend this to even go into schools for future children to understand more about the Awful time in our history. Excellent

This book was very gripping. Some of the stories raised the hair on the back of my neck. We should never forget what happened that awful day. More of these books with survivor stories are needed.

This is a fantastic book. It gives a clear accounting of what happened from each person's point of view, people who were actually there, in their own words. Some of their descriptions are pretty graphic, but they are telling it like it is, the way they saw it. This is a book that should be read, cherished, kept and passed down through the generations to children and grandchildren, so future generations will be able to read about what happened and get the truth from the people who experienced this horrific crime against America. You will shed many tears reading this book, but they are necessary tears....may we never forget what these awful, amoral, barbaric murderers have done to us. This is one book I will never sell or let out of my family. You need to get this book!

I read this book over the course of two weeks. I found that I could not sleep for several nights. It brought back memories of what I was doing at the time that the news broke (I was at work and puzzled as to how a plane could crash into one of the Twin Towers). I naturally assumed it was a small private plane and maybe the pilot had some type of medical emergency. I finally got up and went into the area where the televisions were located and there among many other employees watched that terrible day unfold. None of us could believe what we were seeing. I had butterflies in my stomach for an entire year as it was one of the most shocking events to happen in my lifetime. Tower stories is an account of what those that were there experienced and the very personal stories about loved ones who perished. This is a book that should be read by all. We must never forget nor let future generations forget what happened that day and the sacrifices that were made to save others. We all know of the compromised health of so many of those who were there sacrificing their time and efforts to find survivors and who worked among so much toxic materials. The long-term effects of that day and the days that followed is ongoing. I have answered questions from my 8- year old grandson who is aware of what happened that day but not the true human stories of loss. That will come later.