Report from Ground Zero

Can a book about a tragedy move you even more than highly-compelling television documentaries which allow you to relive the moment in images and interviews? The answer is YES. Report From Ground Zero by retired New York City firefighter Dennis Smith has haunted me for months. I found it absolutely riveting -- except I could not read this in long stretches it was so tragic, so horrifying...yet, in the end, so inspiring. The TRAGEDY: the book's first half contains mostly rescue worker first-person accounts of what went on during what author Smith calls "the saddest day of our history," a day with "no center...no middle...no end" but "collapsed into that single instant at 8:48 a.m." when the first tower was hit. You WILL cry when you read it. You're going to feel you now personally KNOW the anguished -- and outraged -- people telling you what happened and you will see, through their eyes, what took place, feel their losses, visualize the people they knew who gave their lives, and be absolutely determined that this can never happen again. The HORROR: film and tape can only show what is captured on film and what time (2 hours etc.) . But these extensive printed accounts bring it even closer to home -- and go on in detail, with no time constraints. There are so many accounts it's impossible to even condenses them here, but here are a few quick key highlights that show how incredibly compelling the written word can be:--Bob Humphrey, Engine 4: "I watched about 20 people jump. I heard them land, but I couldn't see them. It was good I couldn't see them...." When the South Tower collapsed, he writes, "it was completely black. I couldn't see. I had no mask and no light, and it was hard breathing..." When north tower collapsed "the force lifted the cars off the ground and set them at all angles. I jumped down to the street and covered my heard. It was too terrible. Too much."-- Firefighter Frank Vaskis, after the explosions: "There are body parts all around...." -- and it describes them.--A firefighter walks to where the fire command is supposed to be and "as building 2 comes down this great wind comes, chops me to my stomach and basically pushes me all the way back through the same window I came through." It's pitch black for awhile....then gray, like a massive black and white photo...then cloudy.--Nightmarish descriptions of the relentless PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! as the towers' floors systematically collapse, becoming huge concrete pancakes.--People fruitlessly looking for loved ones. A firefighter whose son is a firefighter asks: "Have you seen my son?" The INSPIRATION: No matter what, these firefighters and rescue workers plowed ahead, strictly focused on saving lives, not obsessing over the threats to their own lives. And how, in the last part of the book, even when the worst rescue work was over they worked at the building, removing debris, painstakingly sifting through all of it in the hopes that maybe someone might still be alive and that those not alive might be identified. There are tons of books now about Sept. 11. This is one that'll be required reading in history classes 100 years from now...and hopefully will be used as a motivational book in military classes for many years to come.

I owned and read Report from Engine Co. 82 in paperback many years ago, and replaced it with a Kindle copy several years ago. So I was already familiar with the author. Twenty-two years later, I thought I was ready to read a detailed account of 9/11. But I was wrong. This was a very painful book to read, and sometimes shocking. I don't fault the writing style for an instant; it was respectful and in no way sensationalistic. But hard to read, all the same. I'm *not* saying don't spend the money or read the book...just, be prepared.

Outstanding work by Dennis Smith, who personally knew many of the people and families affected in the destruction of the World Trade Center. I have climbed stairs in their memory before, read their names, and seen their pictures, but never before seen into their lives and their souls in the way that Dennis allows to in this book. He says in closing that he regrets not being able to tell every story of those lost, but this is an outstanding of telling those stories that he could.

I wonder now how the author feels about former mayor Giuliani after seeing his disturbing behavior while rubbing elbows with trump. It's hard to recognize the mayor you described as the same person I have seen in the past three and a half years. I hope that the world will never forget what happened on 09/11/2001, but I fear that so many have already forgotten or see it as old news.I myself believe it was an inside job and that all those civilians, firefighters, police officers and port authority officers were used as a means to start a war that would give Bush's friends million of dollars in military contracts. Never in history has a skyscraper ever fallen in a fire no matter how long the fire, but we had three skyscraper fall at free fall speed in one day. Hey girl does not burn hot enough to bend, stretch, or destroy steal. Nano termites can and have been found all over ground zero.

I have never read a book about firefighters, but I do have a profound respect for who they are an what they do as a result of reading this.Even so many years since this tragic event I am brought back to this time in history as the author so eloquently describes the loss and feelings of this community of public servants.A must read for those interested in understanding more about this unique brotherhood of men.

Beautifully written. I like the fact that Smith is a retired NY fire fighter so the stories told in his book take on a very personal feel. The stories inside are in the words of the survivors and not just one mans description or edited for effect. Smith captures the true and haunting experiences of the rescue workers and actually puts you there to witness the devastation in your own mind. I can picture every detail of ground zero as described by Smith, who volunteered tirelessly every day of both the rescue and the recovery efforts. Focusing more on the beauty of the heroism and the unity found throughout the scene and across America. Definitely cleared my thoughts and answered some of the questions I had about some of the details surrounding the collapse of the towers. There was not a page in this book that didn't bring a tear to my eyes. I had wanted to go take part of the rescue efforts that day and the weeks afterward so I appreciate Smiths take and personal experience given directly from the line. It brought me closer to the experience that I truly wanted to be a part of at the time.

Having read the author's outstanding 'Report from Engine Co 82' decades ago and in recent years numerous accounts of the 9/11 attacks, I oddly missed Dennis Smith's personal memoir of the day and its aftermath. I purchased a used copy recently and read it quickly. Simply said, it is one of the most moving and detailed works on the horror NYC Firefighters and others dealt with. His interviews with brother firefighters, being so 'fresh', vividly captured what they lived through. Was so sad to learn that Dennis Smith himself passed due to Covid.

Excellent descriptive which understates the dignity and resolve with which those involved in the recovery efforts met individual and collective challenges.

good condition. fast shippingVG

911テロで犠牲になった消防官と残された家族、そして遺体捜索にあたった消防官のドキュメンタリー。ミューヨーク世界貿易センター・ツインタワーに旅客機が突入後、多くの消防官や警官、救助隊が駆け付けたが、その直後のツインタワーの倒壊により、その多く（４００人近く）が犠牲になっている。半分は消防官のインタビュー、半分は作者が書いた、という形式。前半は事件当日の話で、後半はその後の遺体捜索の話。消防官をかなり「英雄視」した感じに書かれているので、日本人はちょっと違和感を感じるかもしれない。テロ後の現場復旧作業と遺体捜索に関しては、解体・建築業者の作業員の立場から書かれた「Nine Months at Ground Zero」もあるので、読み比べてみるのも興味深い。わし的には、「Nine Months at Ground Zero」への共感度のほうが高い。

The title for this review is a direct quote from this book. It's the first line. (It seemed like a good idea as of writing this)If you can't get enough of reading the experiences of those who were there that terrible day you will like this book. It's credited to a fireman and he mentions various colleagues throughout the book, where they were and what they were doing at certain times during that fateful day. It doesn't feel right to use positive words to describe anything related to September 11th. However this is a good book, well written and a great read.

It would be impossible for anyone to read this account and not be moved. Not fight back tears. Not see the images in their dreams. As a firefighter, I felt the words and stories piercing straight to my heart. We will always remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.