Book Review: What We Saw: The Events of September 11, 2001--In Words, Pictures, and Video

 

What We Saw is a book and DVD combination about the CBS News coverage of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks. The book mainly contains write-ups by reporters who covered the attacks or their aftermath in the days and months that followed. It also includes accounts from a few of the eyewitnesses or survivors. The DVD contains the documentary that aired on CBS around the first anniversary of the attacks. The documentary includes part of the CBS news coverage from that day, as well as reports from the evening news or 60 Minutes following the attacks, reporting on the recovery operation, clean-up, and the effect the attacks and the following days and months had on the survivors and the friends and loved ones of the people who died.

The hardcover version of the book is 140 pages long and contains many pictures, so it can be finished in an hour or so. The documentary is just under two hours long. While the book is not as emotional as some of the books written about 9/11, the documentary is very emotional, especially for those who lived through the events of the day. The book is absolutely worth reading, and the DVD is worth watching.