Customer Reviews

Who They Were: Inside the World Trade Center DNA Story: The Unprecedented Effort to Identify the Missing

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Once again, stalwart Free Press comes through with another incredibly in-depth, in fact slightly overlong, inquiry into recent history. In fact, given the subtance of the investigation, and its current limbo, this isn't really history at all, but reather current events of the most pressing nature. Who was it said that reading such and such a book was like holding lightning in your hands? Reading this book is like reading human blood.

Dr. Shaler gives us a no hold barred accout of what it was like trying to deal with the innumerable scraps of human remains found at the site of the Weorld Trade Center disaster on September 11, 2001, in New York, and in the days, weeks and even months afterwards. Scientists and doctors, some who had never spoken to each other before, strangers, and some who were outright enemies, found themselves standing shoulder to shoulder trying to use forensics to fight back, fight against prejudice, fight against violence and terror and fight against the cloud of uncertainty by trying to match easch scrap, be it of brain or liver, with an actual human being believed to have died in the attacks.

He even describes the chill with which his team came to understand that, even among the morass of human material, some of these body parts were probably those of the hijackers as well.

It's not all high science either. Dr. Shaler has the vocabulary of an average New Yorker, and he is given to a descriptive obscenity when the drama of his story calls for it. '"Don't tell me we f--ked up the identification!" I said' is a typical comeback from him. But in general, the science is paramount and it helps us understand the complexity of the work involved. By and by the forensics scientists found themselves invited to the funerals of the vitims they had matched, through DNA or otherwise. The families were grateful. There must be a primitive urge to want to preserve the scraps of your own loved one's bodies, even miniscule ones, for there were funerals for mere fingers. Reminds me of the the way Catholic churches in my youth were erected around mere "relics" embedded in the tabernacles. Dr. Shaler's writing is simple and moving on such occasions, as though Hemingway had willed his genes to a top scientist and bureaucrat:

"We stood around the grave site and waited. Soon, the bagpipers began playing and there was a short ceremony. The sun was shining and it was warm. I felt like I belonged."

Unfortunately, I read "102 Minutes" before reading this book. "102 Minutes" brought the reader into the lives of the people who perished in the WTC attacks.

In "Who They Were", these people were reduced to "tissue", "charred bones", and "material". The author seemed a bit pompous. I could have done without the curriculum vitae of every scientist, engineer and lab worker.

The title "Who They Were" implies a humanistic approach to a very horrible, yet needed, process of closure. I did not expect the names of the victims to be published out of respect to the families, friends and co-workers. I did, however, expect a more personal approach that would render a feeling of solomn gratitude that some families were given the opportunity to bring home the people they loved.

This book is a factual first hand account of Dr. Shaler's experience. The book contains detailed descriptions of the complete identification process from 911. I did enjoy learning about forensics. It also made me very proud to learn how the people in government handled this situation.
The book includes the feelings and emotions from the long term commitment to assist with the critical identification process.

I guess I was expecting someone a little different. Very slow read.

I just started reading, but so far I'm enjoying this very easy read.