Book Review: Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service

 

Zero Fail is a book detailing major events in the history of the Secret Service, focusing mainly on the years from 1961 to 2020. The book lays out the good, the bad, and the ugly (sometimes very ugly) of the Secret Service over the years, and how the protection of the Presidents changed over the years, mostly in response to the JFK assassination and the attempted assassination of Ford, Regan, and Presidential candidate George Wallace. And, the book sheds a lot of light (and provides a lot of behind-the-scenes detail) on events like "Hookergate" and the intrusions into the White House complex by fence jumpers that occurred in more recent years.

Leonnig, a Washington Post reporter, does briefly discuss the origins of the Secret Service but the book mainly focuses on events like the JFK assassination, the attempted assassination of Regan, dealing with JFK and Bill Clinton's womanizing, how Nixon wanted to use agents to spy on his rivals, and how it basically became a frat with agents boozing and fucking anything that moved during their later years, and how the culture within the Secret Service caused embarrassment (at the very least) or put the lives to their protectees in danger. Some of the more interesting details involved how the different Presidents and First Ladies reacted to the agents, and as a result who the agents liked (Regan and the Bushes) and who they disliked or hated (Hillary Clinton).

The book is just under 400 pages but is actually a very fast read. If you read fairly quickly, you can easily get through the book in a week or less. The chapters are all relatively short (20 pages or less) so it is something that is easy to read just before bed and still finish a chapter before you get too tired. It is a book that is part expose, part history lesson, and part political reporting. If you are a fan of history and/or politics it is definitely worth checking out. 

Book Review: My 9/11-Through inflight Eyes

 

This short book (just under 100 pages) was written about the author's experience on 9/11/01 and how the terrorist attacks affected her in the days, months, and years after the attacks. The author was a member of the ground staff for United Airlines operating out of Newark New Jersey on 9/11. She coordinated the flight staff and helped the flight attendants to get checked in and ready for their flights. As a result, she was one of the last people to see the crew of United 93 before the flight took off.

The book is largely a collection of what look to be journal entries written over the course of about 8-9 years in which the author writes about her experiences. She does not focus much on 9/11 itself, although she does talk about seeing the flight crew as they checked in, and some of the calls she took from family members as well as discussing the calls that flight attendants made from the plane during the hijacking to report what was going on. Most of the book deals with the aftermath, and the author's struggles with PTSD, depression, and substance abuse, and the effect it had on her ability to work, her family, etc. 

As I said, the book is short and is a very quick read. I would not call it something that is easy to read, but it definitely details and exemplifies the toll that the events of 9/11 had on people who were not on the planes or in the buildings yet were deeply affected nevertheless. I would not say that the book is worth the price of the hardcover or paperback versions, but if you subscribe to audible or kindle unlimited (or something comparable in which the book is available) it is worth reading or listening to.

Book Review: Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11

 

This is a book that was written around the ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that is almost exclusively devoted to what happened on Flight 93 (which was the plane that crashed in rural Pennsylvania after the passengers and crew fought back), and the aftermath for the families and the nation as a whole. The author does detail some of the other events of the day, mostly the likely sequence of events that resulted in the other planes being hijacked and what targets they hit, but the focus of this book is mostly on Flight 93. 

The author interviewed many of the family members of the people on board the flight as well as the people who saw, heard, and/or felt the plane crash, and the responders (mostly the local coroner who became a rock for the families as he was trying to find and then identify remains) in his research. Even if you have watched many of the 9/11 documentaries and/or read the other books (even those devoted to Flight 93, specifically) there is probably material in this book that you have not heard. Both about the people on the plane (why they were traveling, etc.) and about the hijacker's movements before 9/11. There is also a lot of detail on the family member's fight to hear the cockpit voice recorder tape, and all the back-and-forth that they had to do with the FBI in order to be able to listen to it. The book is fairly short, just under 300 pages, and provides a lot of information, including endnotes that mostly cite to sources of information, but also occasionally provide additional detail. There are most definitely very sad parts, especially when he quotes family members, and especially those who got to talk to their loved ones before the fight for control of the plane began. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: September 11: An Oral History

 

This is a collection of oral histories/narratives from people who lived through the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Some of the accounts were from people who were in the buildings at the time the planes hit, and others were by people who were nearby and caught up in the aftermath. Most of the stories in the book come from people who were in New York, either working in or doing something around the World Trade Center. Of the 247 pages of the book, about 200 of them are devoted to stories from people who were in NY. The last handful of stories are from people who were in the Pentagon when it was hit and their experience trying to get out or trying to get people to safety.

Some of the stories that are included in the book are fairly well-known, especially if you have watched the 9/11 documentaries, such as that of Brian Clark, who worked on the 84th floor of the South Tower and was one of just a handful of people who were above the point of impact who managed to make it down and out.  Other stories are probably not as widely known but are no less harrowing. The author also managed to interview some of the first responders, including an EMT who was performing triage on the injured people coming out of the towers who came across a woman who had either jumped or fallen from the North Tower, but who did not die instantly and was telling him that she was not dead, despite the lower-half of her body being destroyed, and witnesses such as a man who was working on the roof of a nearby building when Flight 11 flew so low overhead that he could see people sitting in their seats. There are also a handful of stories about close calls and near misses, such as a man who worked for Marsh Mclennan, which lost hundreds of employees who worked on the 100th floor of the North Tower, but a series of events that morning caused him to be a few minutes behind schedule so that he was only on the 79th floor, below the impact zone when the plane hit, or a man whose family was originally booked on Flight 11 to fly back to California, but changed to a later flight.

The book is not overly long, just under 250 pages. The stories are separated into different chapters. First, people who were in the North Tower are in one chapter, stories from people in the South Tower is another chapter, then there is a chapter about people who were outside the towers and witnessed the events, then a chapter for first responders, and then a chapter on the Pentagon. The author did not include any interviews with family members of the people on Flight 93. The stories in the book are very emotional, even twenty-plus years after the attacks. The descriptions of the devastation can get graphic, so be aware of that if you do decide to read this. The stories range in length from just over a page to 5-6 pages, depending on how much detail the particular person went into. It is a very emotional read, and you can tell that the experience for the people telling the stories was still very raw at the time they were talking to the author.  

 

Book Review: Last Man Down: A Firefighter's Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center

 

Last Man Down is partly a memoir and mostly a telling of events on 9/11 as experienced by Battalion Chief Richard Picciotto, who at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was nearly a 30-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department. He was the highest-ranking firefighter in the North Tower of the World Trade Center at the time the building collapsed. The book starts out with the collapse of the South Tower and Picciotto's decision to start evacuating the people in the North Tower, then discusses the timeline of the day as he experienced it, and how he got to be on the 35th floor of the North Tower (where he was when the South Tower collapsed) and then his trek down the stairs making sweeps of the floors and trying to get everyone out, and where he was when the North Tower collapsed and the story of how he, and the group of people that were near him, got out. Interestingly, Picciotto's company was actually not dispatched to the Trade Center, but he called dispatch asking to go down because he had coordinated the evacuation of the buildings after the 93 bombing, and knew the buildings well. 

The most interesting part of the book, for me, was the details about how the group of trapped firefighters, who were located in the only section of the stairwell to survive the collapse of the North Tower, were trying to communicate their location to the rescuers on the outside, and the ordeal it was to get them down and to safety because of the fires that were raging throughout the World Trade Center complex after the collapse of the buildings.

It should be noted that he has been criticized for embellishing part of the narrative in the book, specifically that he directed Ladder Company 6 to help Josephine Harris, who was the only civilian trapped with the group of firefighters in the stairwell when he found her with a group of disabled and otherwise non-ambulatory people on the 12th floor as they were evacuating the building. Also, details like when he left his firehouse for the Trade Center have changed over the years. In the book, he says it was after the second plane hit, and in more recent talks he has given he said that the second plane hit as he was on his way to the trade center. But, it could just be that those details have been lost to time. The title is also a bit misleading as there were a group of Port Authority workers on the 64th floor of the North Tower (which was a floor that the firefighters never got to) that were coming down behind Picciotto, only one of whom survived the collapse of the building, basically landing on top of the pile of debris under which Picciotto and the others were buried.

The book is not long, about 240 pages, and is a fairly quick read. If you are a fast reader you can easily finish it in a day or two. Picciotto most definitely has a brash style and swears a lot, which will likely turn a lot of people off. But, it is an interesting story that I had only heard part of from the Inside 9/11 documentary which Picciotto was interviewed for a couple of years after 9/11. It is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: American Psychosis

 

You might think American Psychosis is just another book detailing the actions of the former (2017-2021) administration. It is not. That administration is discussed at the beginning of the book and then again in the last handful of chapters. What the book really provides is a must-read historical breakdown of the Republican party from the time of Lincoln to the present day.

The book basically chronicles how the Republican and Democratic parties shifted after the Civil War, during the reconstruction era through to the Jim Crow and Civil Rights era, and the internal strife of the party with the (at the time) more powerful moderates having to keep the right-wing nut jobs like Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater in check. However, through the formation of the John Birch Society, the Heritage Foundation, and the Federalist Society, the nutjobs slowly gained more and more power in the party and eventually led to the takeover of the party by t***p, who was not afraid to spout the racist, xenophobic, and homophobic nonsense that the wingnuts were espousing for years. The author, David Corn, describes how Dwight Eisenhower had to essentially put up with McCarthy because he was afraid of losing his base (sound familiar), and Nixon fully embraced the "southern strategy" which basically is how the GOP keeps a hold of the bible-belt states, and how Ronald Regan (who was actually one of the worst Presidents in history if you were poor and/or a minority) was more than willing to play footsie with the racists in the party while keeping his inclusive persona. Corn's argument is that t***p did not change the GOP, but was a product of what was a long time coming because of the likes of those mentioned along with people like Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and their ilk.

The one thing I personally would have liked Corn to devote more time to was how, after the Civil War up through the 1960s, some prominent Dixiecrats (southern democrats, many of whom were ex-confederates who were somehow allowed into the government after the Civil War) switched from the Democratic party to the Republican party, and really started the wingnut portion of the GOP caucus. He talks around the subject but does not really go into a lot of detail about how that shaped what we have now.

Overall, the book is a very good history lesson that chronicles how the modern-day GOP arrived at the place it is. Corn backs up his assertions by citing multiple sources and/or providing examples (e.g., interviews, records of speeches, etc.) of the events he writes about. If you are at all interested in history or politics, this is a must-read.

Book Review: The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11

 

This book most definitely is not a 9/11 truther conspiracy novel, written by a batshit crazy nutcase. It is a book by a member of the 9/11 Commission staff which excoriates the FBI, CIA, and various intelligence agencies for failing to stop the attacks before they had a chance to happen (despite many opportunities to do so), the Clinton and Bush administrations for not doing enough to go after Al Queda and/or ignoring how dangerous it had become, and the FAA and the military for their ineptness on the day itself. In the case of the last two, specifically, he details how members of the FAA and the military either did not know or outright lied about how events played out that day, showing either incompetence and ignorance or a desire to cover themselves to disguise their incompetence. For example, during the commission hearings, FAA officials made it seem like they informed the military well before they actually did, and the members of the military insisted that they had been tracking flight 93 and were minutes away from tracking it down had the passengers and crew not fought back to try and regain control of the plane causing the terrorists to crash it. In reality, the FAA contacted NEADS about six minutes before Flight 11 hit the north tower of the WTC, the military had no warning about Flight 175, and the FAA was not even sure that 175 was hijacked until it was a minute or two from hitting the south tower of the WTC, the FAA told the military about a plane headed toward the White House a few minutes before Flight 77 hit the Pentagon and did not tell the military about Flight 93 until after it had crashed. So, there was no way fighter jets were minutes away from taking Flight 93 down. 

The book reprints transcripts of the communications which, at the time of the 9/11 commission report's release, were classified, which showed how the reality of the day conflicted with what the commission was being told by witnesses. There is also a very detailed timeline of events involving the hijackers and other members of Al Queda that at least put them on the radar of various US agencies, and sent up huge red flags that were either missed or ignored. The key takeaway from the book is that there were plenty of opportunities to find out about the attacks and stop them before they happened had the "system" not failed time and again.

Book Review: From the Inside Out: Harrowing Escapes from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center

 

From the Inside Out is a collection of stories of people, including the author, who were at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and survived the events of the day. Many of the stories are from people who have not had their stories told in other books or documentaries about 9/11. The book is relatively short, just over 150 pages, and tells each person's story basically from the time they got up that day, to when they finally got home.

Some interesting takeaways I had were that, while many people inside the tower did not have any idea what happened, there were definitely some who knew (or highly suspected) what did, and those who were engineers were definitely afraid that the buildings might fall based on what they were seeing inside the building. One of the people whose story is included in the book was probably one of the few people who were not killed who actually saw American 11 coming toward the building. In fact, the plane was initially at his eye level before it climbed a bit just before crashing. He ended up being below the impact zone and was able to get out of the building, but he was close enough to see the silhouettes of people in the plane before it hit. One of the saddest stories is that of a Port Authority Officer who worked with a K9 unit to detect bombs. He thought that he had missed a bomb that went off and ended up in the only portion of the stairwell in the north tower that survived the collapse. His K9 partner, however, was in a kennel in the basement of the south tower when it collapsed. The dog was given full honors when his remains were discovered months later. Probably the hardest thing to read was the accounts of the survivors seeing people falling and jumping from the building and describing just how bloody it was around the towers.

Those of us who lived through that day will always remember it, but this book really hammers home the fact that none of us who were watching on TV from the safety of an office or living room knew what it was really like in the middle of everything. Interestingly, however, more than one of the people whose story is told in the book did not realize how bad what they survived was until they got home and watched the news footage. I definitely put this book in the category of a must-read.

Book Review: History in One Act: A Novel of 9/11

 

History in One Act is a novelization of the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It blends the actual events with fictional narratives that the author (who has also written a non-fiction book on the events of the day itself) makes up. I would describe it as a book version of what Oliver Stone did with the movie JFK. It can sometimes be difficult to figure out what is fiction and what is non-fiction, although the author does a pretty good job stating up front what is fictional and the things he discusses that are factual (even when it is blended with fictional elements) are cited in endnotes. Basically, what he does is take the notion that the US government, had it not made a bunch of mistakes during both the Clinton and Bush administrations, could have prevented the attacks and turns it into a fictional story in which a super-secret faction of the CIA was actually working with KSM, the mastermind of the plot, and allowed him to pull it off. While that would provide fodder for the conspiracy peddlers out there, the author does admit that part of the book is fictional and admits it in the prologue and epilogue.

Another thing the author does is use fictional material to fill in the blanks on things that were uncovered during the investigation of the attacks but could not be fully explained. For example, when KSM was interrogated, he said he was surprised that the south tower of the WTC was hit and that the original plan was to hit the north tower, the white house, the Pentagon, and the capital. So, the author makes up a reason for why the terrorists decided to hit both towers. He also mixes in things that are known, like the fact that a couple of the hijackers who ended up being muscle hijackers were originally supposed to be pilots but were not smart enough to make it through pilot training into the story.

As I said above, it can be hard to separate the fiction from the non-fiction, but overall, it does give a high-level overview of things that did happen and details things that could have happened. There are a ton of endnotes that would have been much better as footnotes because, much of the time, they add a ton of detail. Flipping from the page you are reading to the endnotes and back can be a pain. And if you read the endnotes after finishing the main portion of the book, they can be hard to follow. Overall, it is a good book. It is very long (over 700 pages if you read all the endnotes), so it may take a while to get through, depending on how quickly you read. Ultimately, you have to take some of what is in the book with a grain of salt and understand that the purpose was not to write a non-fiction account of everything that happened in the lead-up to 9/11.

Book Review: Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back

 

Among the Heroes is a book about Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked in the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was the only one of the planes that did not hit the intended target because the passengers and crew fought to regain control of the plane. The book is excellent not because it details the events of the day (which it does) but because it tells the story of the people on the plane, including who they were and what their lives were like before that day while they were traveling that day, and as much as the author could piece together, what they did during the hijacking. The author interviewed the families of all but one of the passengers and crew members and thus told a very human story about the people caught up in the horrible events. And, it includes information that has not been included in other documentaries and in other books, like the story of the boyfriend of one of the passengers who tried to switch his flight to Flight 93 so they could travel together. He had a flight that connected to Minneapolis and then was going to San Fransico, and because of the price, he did not switch flights and ended up in Toronto, where he learned of her fate. The author was also able to interview the family members of the pilot hijacker and people who knew him here in the US. His family refused to believe that he was involved in the hijacking and said he did not hate America while admitting they had not heard from him after 9/11, and the people who knew him in the US were amazed that he had anything to do with the attacks because he acted kind and easygoing, and never indicated any hatred toward America.

The book does not really tell the story of the flight in a detailed timeline. It chronicles the events from the time the flight crew arrived at the airport, then cuts to talking about one of the people, and then goes back to the events of the day. So, it would be something like "the plane started boarding at "x" time" and then discuss the life of one or two passengers or crew members, and then continue with the timeline like "the plane pulled back from the gate at "y" time. The author does not speculate about events that have not been confirmed, like whether the passengers and crew successfully got into the cockpit or not. He did point out, however, that given how low the plane was flying and the speed it was going, it would have been unlikely for a commercial airline pilot (much less anyone who was likely still alive on the plane during the fight with the hijackers) to save it from crashing.

It is a very well-written book that is very sad (as all the books about 9/11 are) but does a wonderful job honoring the people and their families. It is definitely worth reading, and at just under 300 pages, it is a fairly quick read. I highly recommend it.

Book Review: 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

 

102 minutes is one of many books written about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This one is almost 100% devoted to what was going on in the Twin Towers in the 102-minute time frame from when Flight 11 hit the North Tower at 8:46 AM to when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 AM. Then there is a short epilogue that discusses the last handful of people who were pulled out of the rubble. The book does have a passing mention of the other attacks that occurred, but for the most part, it just details the stories of the people in the World Trade Center complex, including many stories of people who did not make it out but were able to communicate with the outside world.

One huge takeaway from the book is just how unorganized the rescue/evacuation effort was both because of the animosity between the NY fire department and police department, the two agencies' unwillingness to work with each other, and the poor design of the buildings. The trade center towers were allowed to be built ignoring existing code standards so that there were not enough stairways, the stairways were bunched together (and in portions were totally destroyed trapping people), and without much thought of evacuating disabled people who could not easily use the stairs. Also complicating the evacuation efforts were conflicting instructions being given by the 911 operators, with some telling people to get out immediately and others telling people to stay where they are and wait for rescue crews to get them. And, in the case of the South Tower, in which there was one passable stairway that people above the impact zone could use if they could get to it, was never communicated, in large part because much of the tower's PA system was knocked out. The book also details issues with the fireproofing and sprinkler systems in the buildings failing that allowed exposed steel to weaken which would eventually lead to the collapse of both towers.

The emotional punch really comes from the story of the people. If you have watched many of the 9/11 documentaries or read some of the other books written about 9/11 you may have heard some of the stories already. But there are some, like the heroics of Frank DiMartini and Pablo Ortiz who helped many people trapped on the floors just below the impact zone in the North Tower who were otherwise trapped because of jammed doors or debris get to the stairways, that has not been told in as much detail as they are in this book. The book also details many of the pleas for help that the people trapped above the impact zones with no way out were making as the smoke and fire were getting closer to them.

The book is not extremely long, just 263 pages of the main text, and then about 30 pages of endnotes. The endnotes are mostly just citing sources, but some of them do have additional detail. So, they would have worked much better as footnotes because they would have been easier to match up with the corresponding text. I definitely consider this one of the must-read books about 9/11.

Book Review: Fall and Rise The Story of 9/11

 

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 about how people tried to put their lives back together after everything was over. This section talked about 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 live 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.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

 

Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatization of the hunt for, and the subsequent raid to kill Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Quaeda, and the money behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The movie stars Jessica Chastain as Maya, a young CIA analyst working for the unit that was tasked with Hunting down Bin Laden. The character is based on a real person but is kind of an amalgamation of all of the women who worked in that unit. Maya is singularly focused on tracking down a lead regarding the courier whose name was given up by a tortured detainee, and after following many dead ends, ends up panning out. The movie is directed by Kathryn Bigelow who also directed The Hurt Locker. The movie gets an undeserved bad rap as glamorizing torture. I never got the impression that the movie was glamorizing it in any way. I looked at it as acknowledging that the government did torture detainees and not skirting around or whitewashing that fact. Whether the actual information that resulted in the courier's name being given up came about as a result or torture or was dramatized for the movie does not, in my opinion, take away from the quality.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. There are not a ton of extras, but what was included is good. These include a making-of documentary, a featurette on the building of a duplicate of bin Laden's stronghold, a piece about training the actors playing SEALs, and a featurette with Jessica Chastain discussing her character.

Overall, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. Chastain is a tour de force in this movie, bringing intensity and passion to every scene. She definitely earned and deserved her academy award nomination. The movie is not a straight-up documentary and does dramatize some events and material, but includes a lot of real events in the story (such as the bombing at the base that killed several military personnel and CIA officers) and gave a detailed account of how the actual raid went down. It is definitely worth checking out.

Book Review: On That Day: The Definitive Timeline of 9/11

 

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.

Book Review: Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It

 

This is a book that seeks to figure out who the terrorists were who executed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and, more importantly, why they did what they did. Specifically, to find an explanation that goes beyond the easy "they were crazy" mantra. While the book does discuss all of the terrorists, the focus is on three of the four pilot hijackers, Mohammed Atta, Ziad Jarrah, and Marwan al-Shehhi, who made up the "Hamburg Cell" of terrorists who were all enrolled in schools in Hamburg Germany and ended up going to the most radical Mosque in the city where they ended up being radicalized and started looking for a fight.

A couple of the more interesting takeaways from the book is that not all of the hijackers (especially Atta and Jarrah) were not overtly religious or political growing up, and did not really become either until they were radicalized in Hamburg. Also, they did not even have fervent hatred of the United States, they were just angry and wanted to join any fight. In fact, their initial idea was to go to Chechnya to fight the Russians but ended up at an Al-Queda training camp in Afghanistan shortly after Khalid Sheik Mohammed pitched the "planes operation" to Osama Bin Laden, and he approved to finance the operation. So, they just happened to be the most educated people willing to volunteer for a martyrdom operation and were essentially assigned to the plot that would become the 9/11 attacks. Overall, there was nothing really different or abnormal about any of them, they were just "normal" guys with varying levels of education, some even coming from upper-middle-class backgrounds, that were young and mad and willing to follow whatever they were told. The author also debunks the notion that Atta really planned much of anything, that everyone who knew him said he could follow orders but had very little in the way of leadership ability (because most everyone hated his attitude) or creativity. In fact, he was probably the most "abnormal" one of the bunch as he hated pretty much everyone (especially women) and was just generally miserable about everything.

The book is divided into three parts. The backgrounds of the hijackers, Bin Laden's rise to power, and the actual plot to hijack the planes and execute the attacks on 9/11. The author gives a pretty good reconstruction (as much as he could put together) of the movements of the various people involved up to 9/11. One big takeaway is, that having made as many stupid decisions and mistakes as the hijackers did, even that day at the airports, the fact that they were able to pull the attacks off with the level of success that they did was frankly amazing. And, it underscores just how unprepared our system was at all levels for an attack like this, such that even a bunch of nitwits like these could pull it off. The only thing the book does not go into great detail about is the actual attacks themselves. It basically sets up what happened up to 9/11, but does not go into great detail about the events of the day itself.

Overall, the book is very good. It provides a very interesting look into the lives of the hijackers, what caused them to become radicalized, and what made them do what they did. It does not in any way glorify them or try to make them seem tragic or sympathetic figures. In many ways, it does just the opposite, both by pointing out how stupid some of their actions were and how hypocritical they were regarding their so-called "beliefs" in the days leading up to the attacks. I definitely recommend it.

Book Review: Helter Skelter

 

Helter Skelter is the novel written by Vincent Bugliosi, the lead prosecutor in the prosecution and conviction of Charles Manson and his followers for the series of murders that they carried out in the late 1960s, including the murder of the actress Sharon Tate. The book details not only the crimes but the investigation that was carried out and the prosecution of those involved. Most interesting, especially for those of us who are lawyers, is the strategy Bugliosi used to convict Manson even though he did not help carry out the murders, and his followers were basically brainwashed cult members who were reluctant to flip on him.

As anyone who has read any of Bugliosi's books, he has a pretty snarky writing style and is not shy about sharing his personal feelings about the people he is writing about. So, his characterization of Manson and his band of followers could be quite humorous at times. The book is organized into multiple parts that detail the murders, then detail the killers, the investigation of the crime, determining a motive, catching those involved, and the trial and its aftermath. It is a very entertaining read and provides a lot of information that only Bugliosi and a handful of other people were privy to. So, if you are a history buff and/or a true crime enthusiast, this is definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

 

Reclaiming history is a massive book on the Kennedy Assassination by the noted prosecutor and author Vince Bugliosi. It is broken into two "books". Book One, titled "Matters of Fact: What Happened" discusses the Assassination, the various investigations, the evidence, details Oswald's past and movements, and the mountain of evidence against him, and pointing to the fact that he was the only shooter.

In the second book, titled "Delusions of Conspiracy: What Didn't Happen", Bugliosi swats down the most prevalent conspiracy theories, refuting them point-by-point with detailed evidence and citations to bolster his conclusions. Of course, his ultimate conclusion is that there is no proof of conspiracy. He is quite condescending to most of the major conspiracy theorists, holding a special derision for Mark Lane and Oliver Stone, and makes no bones about the fact that he finds most of the conspiracy advocates to be batshit crazy.

The book reads like an extremely long law review article. Almost every sentence is footnoted, and many of the footnotes include a paragraph or more of text. The amount of text in the footnotes can probably fill their own book. As a result, it is not exactly the easiest thing to read but it provides a lot of detail. Obviously, the Kennedy Assassination is one of the most contentious points of debate in history. For people who don't believe there was a conspiracy, this book will just deepen their resolve. For those who do, nothing Bugliosi says, including the fact that such a conspiracy would require multiple people to stay quiet forever and never reveal anything, or that many of the various conspiracies contradict each other, will ever change their mind. So, it is pretty likely if you think that Oswald acted alone you will love this book and if you think something more nefarious was behind the Assassination, you will hate it. Personally, I think it is worth reading regardless of where you stand on the conspiracy issue, if nothing else, just for the fact that it is one of the most detailed books on the Kennedy Assassination out there.

Book Review: Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11

 

Touching History is a book written by a former pilot and airline instructor, Lynn Spencer. It tells the story of 9/11 mainly from the perspective of the air traffic controllers and military personnel, starting at the time air traffic control lost contact with flight 11 and ending with the military patrols that were flying over all the major cities in the days after the 9/11 attacks. Therefore, the book does not focus much on what was happening in any of the buildings or even a ton about what was happening on the planes aside from talking about some of the things that were relayed from passengers or flight attendants to the airlines. She did not even focus much on the known discussions and messages left by passengers to their loved ones (with a few exceptions). 

The main takeaway from the book is just how unprepared everyone from air traffic control to the airlines, to the military, was for an attack like this. As anyone who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s remembers, when planes were hijacked they would force the pilots to land somewhere and have a list of demands they wanted to be met as they negotiated with authorities. There was almost never collateral damage on the ground, and planes were never used as missiles. So, it seemed that very few people had any real idea of what was actually going on even after American 11 hit the first tower, really until Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. The book also details experiences of other flights, some of which were considered to be hijacks even after they landed safely, and details one flight that was very likely a 5th plane that would have been hijacked (that was never mentioned in the 9/11 report) had it got in the air (it was caught up in the ground stop) that had 4 or 5 Arab men sitting in first class who ditched their luggage when the plane went back to the terminal in which box cutters and Al-Queda documents were found. It also details the chaos both from the FAA standpoint and pilots in the air when the ground-stop order was issued and trying to land all of the planes currently in the air or coming to the US from overseas. 

Overall, the book is very well written and has a lot of detail that has not been widely revealed to the public. It is more of a just presenting the facts kind of book, but the author does a great job conveying the emotion that the various people involved had while the events were unfolding. She also does a great job conveying the inability of the FAA and air traffic control to effectively communicate with the military because they were all using different systems and different lingo, and how even the different branches of the military had a hard time communicating with each other. I would consider this a must-read for anyone who is into history or just researching, or interested in learning about, the events of 9/11.

Book Review: The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

 

The Only Plane in the Sky is a book by Jared Graff that details the events of 9/11 using quotes from different people that were involved in the events of that day. The author has used quotes from survivors, people who talked to people on the planes before they crashed, government officials, and even just people who lived through the day. The book is divided into chapters, and then in each chapter, there are quotes from people discussing the topic of the chapter. So, it does not quite read like a traditional book. Each quote identifies the person giving it and where they were (if they were in the buildings). If you have watched any of the documentaries on 9/11 you will know that some of the quotes the author uses are lifted from interviews that people have previously given about 9/11, but the author also conducted quite a few first-hand interviews. Because the book was written in 2019 some of the material he included was from a modern-day perspective on how a person's life had changed since that day.

Overall, the book is very good. It is very emotional in parts and does include some material that I had never heard about despite watching many of the 9/11 documentaries and reading a lot of books about 9/11. It can be very jarring getting a first-hand account of what happened by the people who lived it, and you get a sense of just how lucky some people got where literally being able to turn a corner was the difference between living and dying. I highly recommend this for people who experienced 9/11 or are just into history, current events, etc. 

Remembering 9/11/2001

 Twenty years. I will, at least as long as I have all of my mental faculties, remember September 11, 2001, for the rest of my life. Over the course of time, some of the finer details of the day have slipped from my memory, but I remember I had just started my third year of law school. The prior summer had been particularly shitty for me as my first love broke my heart and I was glad to be getting back into a "normal" routine. I lived fairly close to my law school and would walk to class every day. On Tuesday mornings I had an 8 am class, so I would usually get up at about 7AM central time, take a shower, watch TV or listen to the radio for a bit, then walk to class. That day I was running late so I never did end up watching TV in the morning. And, this was long before smartphones that gave instant news alerts existed, so I had no idea what was going on that morning until I got into class and someone who had driven to school mentioned something about a bombing on the east coast. Of course, everything had just started to happen out east, so nobody really knew what was going on. The one thing I distinctly remember is that when I walked in the front door of the law school, I noticed a lot of people looking at the monitor that displayed school announcements. There was rarely anything important on them and I did not even bother to look at the screen, but I made a mental note to myself to check them out after class.

My professor ended up ending class early, I think about 20 minutes into the normally hour and fifteen-minute class. Since I did not have class again until afternoon, I was going to walk back home, and this time did look at the monitor in the hallway and saw both of the Twin Towers on fire. I did not even have to read the crawl on the screen to know it was terrorism. I quickly got back home and turned on the TV and watched for hours until finally meeting my mom for dinner later that night. I started watching the coverage right about the time the Pentagon was hit and was still trying to figure out what was going on from the coverage. I remember one of the anchors on whatever network I was watching saying something along the lines of approximately 50,000 people could be in the world trade center complex on any given day. It was not long after that the first tower fell, and I remember thinking to myself how many people did I just watch die on live TV? Since I really was still trying to put together when this all started I had no idea if people had yet been evacuated. Then, of course, everything went from bad to worse as the second tower fell, the side of the Pentagon collapsed, and we learned that another plane had crashed in rural Pennsylvania. 

I am one who watches the 9/11 documentaries almost every year because I want to remember that day and the people who lost their lives, especially those who did so trying to save others. It saddens me to think that we are a more divided nation now than we were back then, and if a similar attack were to happen in 2021, the country would not come close to the unity that we had on September 12, 2001. While I was never in any danger that day watching everything play out from my living room and thankfully did not know anyone personally who died or had loved ones die that day, the stories of the people in the buildings and on the planes always gets to me, even two decades later. I am always especially touched by the story of the passengers on flight 93, who found out what was really happening with the hijacked planes and made a stand against the hijackers knowing that it would likely cost them their lives. I hope to never be in a position to have to make a decision like that but also hope that if I am I would be able to do the same kind of thing that they did. 

So, this day, like every anniversary of 9/11 my heart goes out to the people who lost their lives and to the loved ones they left behind. Never forget.