Fall and Rise started as a newspaper article telling the stories of a couple of people's experiences during the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and eventually evolved into a full book. The book is told in basically three sections. The first focuses on the planes, telling the stories of the various passengers (with brief biographies of some and why they were traveling) as well as detailing the movements of the hijackers to the point where the planes take off. The book gives the most detailed account that I have seen (from what can be pieced together) of what happened during each of the flights without going into speculation about things that are not definitively known.
The second portion of the book details what happened inside each of the buildings after the planes hit, including stories of people heroically helping each other inside the Pentagon, which is often given short shrift when compared to those of people in the Twin Towers. Again, the author tells the stories of people who made it out and those of people who did not, piecing together as much information as he could about where various people were and the actions they took.
The third section of the book is about the aftermath, basically how people tried to put their lives back together after everything was over. This section discussed how people healed, or did not, moved on with their lives, or did not, and the overall impact the events of that day had on them.
The book is long, about 460 pages of the main text, but it is very hard to put down and can be read pretty quickly. Then there are a couple of appendices, one that lists the names of all the people known to have died in the attacks as well as the location of their names on the reflecting pools at the memorial, and one that lists a timeline of the major events of the day. Then, there are about 50 pages of endnotes listing the various sources of information and adding additional detail. The book gives a lot of information, including some that I have not heard before, even after watching many of the documentaries and reading many of the books about 9/11. It really focuses on the human story and the toll that it took on the people who lived through that day and the family members of those who did not. It is very well-written and evokes a lot of emotion. It is definitely worth reading.
The second portion of the book details what happened inside each of the buildings after the planes hit, including stories of people heroically helping each other inside the Pentagon, which is often given short shrift when compared to those of people in the Twin Towers. Again, the author tells the stories of people who made it out and those of people who did not, piecing together as much information as he could about where various people were and the actions they took.
The third section of the book is about the aftermath, basically how people tried to put their lives back together after everything was over. This section discussed how people healed, or did not, moved on with their lives, or did not, and the overall impact the events of that day had on them.
The book is long, about 460 pages of the main text, but it is very hard to put down and can be read pretty quickly. Then there are a couple of appendices, one that lists the names of all the people known to have died in the attacks as well as the location of their names on the reflecting pools at the memorial, and one that lists a timeline of the major events of the day. Then, there are about 50 pages of endnotes listing the various sources of information and adding additional detail. The book gives a lot of information, including some that I have not heard before, even after watching many of the documentaries and reading many of the books about 9/11. It really focuses on the human story and the toll that it took on the people who lived through that day and the family members of those who did not. It is very well-written and evokes a lot of emotion. It is definitely worth reading.
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