September 11, 2001, was a day that most people, at least those who were old enough (or still had enough mental faculties) to be aware of what was happening will remember for the rest of their lives. This is one of the many books that have been written about 9/11 around the 20th anniversary. It lays out a very thorough and very detailed timeline of events starting at about 4:45 AM detailing as many of the actions and movements of the hijackers that can be reproduced, to 11:50 PM when President Bush returned to the White House residence after being dragged down to the bunker because of a false alarm of another attack.
The focus of the book is mostly on the government's response to the attacks, and really illustrates just how chaotic and dysfunctional everything was. The author does not spend much time detailing things that were happening in the buildings or on the planes. He does mention some of the phone calls that were made and some of what was going on in the buildings, but the core of the author's attention was on the communications (or lack thereof) between politicians, the FAA, and the military. In the Amazon reviews, one of the reviewers complains that the book is essentially unreadable because he does not even know the correct time Flight 11 hit the north tower. Rest assured, that the author does know that Flight 11 hit the north tower at 8:46 AM. The author uses two em dashes on page 55 in a way that, if you do not read the sentence carefully (or do not understand the function of an em dash), it seems like he is saying that the plane hit the tower at 8:24 AM.
The main thing I took away from reading the book is that almost nobody in a position of power really had a handle on what was going on as events were unfolding or followed the procedures that they should have. For example, the Speaker of the House was the only person in the line of succession that actually went to where he was supposed to. The communication was so bad that day that President Bush could barely get in touch with anyone, which was making him madder as the day went on, especially since the secret service was not allowing him to return to Washington DC. And, there were a ton of false reports of other attacks, whether bombings or other supposedly hijacked planes. There were planes that officials were told were hijacked, then a few minutes later would be told were not hijacked and landed safely, and then a few minutes later would get another report that they were hijacked and crashed. And, officials never really got a good handle on what happened to the planes that were actually involved in the attacks, as there were reports that Flights 11 and 77 were still in the air long after they had crashed into their targets. The author also makes clear (as others have before him) that several members of the administration wanted desperately to tie the attacks to Iraq (although it was clear even by that afternoon who was responsible) and were planning to use the attack as justification to go into Iraq and take out Sadaam Hussein.
The book is very well-sourced, using a ton of footnotes, that not only point to sources but also flesh out the cited text. The author identifies a lot of the false reports that were being circulated that day (and in the days after), which gives you an idea of just how chaotic it was. The one thing I would have liked the author to focus on more is a flight that many believe would have been a fifth hijacked flight, United Airlines flight 23 which was flying from JFK in NY to Los Angeles, had it not been caught up in initial closure and ground stop of air traffic in the NY area. There were reports of several middle eastern men on that plane who became extremely agitated when the plane did not take off who pushed their way off the plane when it returned to the gate, and that box cutters were found in their carry-on bags (which they left on the plane). The author says this turned out to be false, but does not provide any details about what in the reported information was wrong and how it was determined to be incorrect.
Overall, it is a very detailed book with a lot of information. There are some typos that did not get caught, but they really do not affect the readability or cause anything to be misleading. I would not say it is as emotional as some of the other books that have been released over the years, especially those from survivors telling their stories of the day. That said, it is definitely worth reading.
The focus of the book is mostly on the government's response to the attacks, and really illustrates just how chaotic and dysfunctional everything was. The author does not spend much time detailing things that were happening in the buildings or on the planes. He does mention some of the phone calls that were made and some of what was going on in the buildings, but the core of the author's attention was on the communications (or lack thereof) between politicians, the FAA, and the military. In the Amazon reviews, one of the reviewers complains that the book is essentially unreadable because he does not even know the correct time Flight 11 hit the north tower. Rest assured, that the author does know that Flight 11 hit the north tower at 8:46 AM. The author uses two em dashes on page 55 in a way that, if you do not read the sentence carefully (or do not understand the function of an em dash), it seems like he is saying that the plane hit the tower at 8:24 AM.
The main thing I took away from reading the book is that almost nobody in a position of power really had a handle on what was going on as events were unfolding or followed the procedures that they should have. For example, the Speaker of the House was the only person in the line of succession that actually went to where he was supposed to. The communication was so bad that day that President Bush could barely get in touch with anyone, which was making him madder as the day went on, especially since the secret service was not allowing him to return to Washington DC. And, there were a ton of false reports of other attacks, whether bombings or other supposedly hijacked planes. There were planes that officials were told were hijacked, then a few minutes later would be told were not hijacked and landed safely, and then a few minutes later would get another report that they were hijacked and crashed. And, officials never really got a good handle on what happened to the planes that were actually involved in the attacks, as there were reports that Flights 11 and 77 were still in the air long after they had crashed into their targets. The author also makes clear (as others have before him) that several members of the administration wanted desperately to tie the attacks to Iraq (although it was clear even by that afternoon who was responsible) and were planning to use the attack as justification to go into Iraq and take out Sadaam Hussein.
The book is very well-sourced, using a ton of footnotes, that not only point to sources but also flesh out the cited text. The author identifies a lot of the false reports that were being circulated that day (and in the days after), which gives you an idea of just how chaotic it was. The one thing I would have liked the author to focus on more is a flight that many believe would have been a fifth hijacked flight, United Airlines flight 23 which was flying from JFK in NY to Los Angeles, had it not been caught up in initial closure and ground stop of air traffic in the NY area. There were reports of several middle eastern men on that plane who became extremely agitated when the plane did not take off who pushed their way off the plane when it returned to the gate, and that box cutters were found in their carry-on bags (which they left on the plane). The author says this turned out to be false, but does not provide any details about what in the reported information was wrong and how it was determined to be incorrect.
Overall, it is a very detailed book with a lot of information. There are some typos that did not get caught, but they really do not affect the readability or cause anything to be misleading. I would not say it is as emotional as some of the other books that have been released over the years, especially those from survivors telling their stories of the day. That said, it is definitely worth reading.
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