Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11

Mitchell Zuckoff

2019 • 624 pages

Ratings11

Average rating4.7

“Better and more comprehensive than any prior account. . . . Those of us who lived through those days will find the book cathartic; those rising generations who were too young to remember 9/11, or who weren’t yet born, will find it revelatory.” — John Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission and author of The Ground Truth “With his rigorous research and moral clarity, Mitchell Zuckoff has provided us with an invaluable service. He has deepened our understanding of what happened on 9/11 and recorded the voices of the victims and the survivors. What’s more, he has ensured that we never forget.” —David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon Years in the making, this spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative is an unforgettable portrait of 9/11. This is a 9/11 book like no other. Masterfully weaving together multiple strands of the events in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Fall and Rise is a mesmerizing, minute-by-minute account of that terrible day. In the days and months after 9/11, Mitchell Zuckoff, then a reporter for the Boston Globe, wrote about the attacks, the victims, and their families. After further years of meticulous reporting, Zuckoff has filled Fall and Rise with voices of the lost and the saved. The result is an utterly gripping book, filled with intimate stories of people most affected by the events of that sunny Tuesday in September: an out-of-work actor stuck in an elevator in the North Tower of the World Trade Center; the heroes aboard Flight 93 deciding to take action; a veteran trapped in the inferno in the Pentagon; the fire chief among the first on the scene in sleepy Shanksville; a team of firefighters racing to save an injured woman and themselves; and the men, women, and children flying across country to see loved ones or for work who suddenly faced terrorists bent on murder. Fall and Rise will open new avenues of understanding for everyone who thinks they know the story of 9/11, bringing to life—and in some cases, bringing back to life—the extraordinary ordinary people who experienced the worst day in modern American history. Destined to be a classic, Fall and Rise will move, shock, inspire, and fill hearts with love and admiration for the human spirit as it triumphs in the face of horrifying events.

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jan pacak

Mitchell Zuckoff researched all the disparate events surrounding what culminated on 9/11 and wrote a cohesive story which includes many personal stories and interviews to balance the facts. I learned a lot I was unaware of and, through Zuckoff's craft, felt I had a front row seat to this horrendous event. Sadly, it read like a thriller novel at times and I found it hard to put down.

May 24, 2019

Richard DawsonSupporter

A humanising account of one of the most important days in modern history

The prospect of reading a book where the final moments of 2,977 terrorist attack victims are recounted in minute-by-minute detail is tough, but was ultimately my most rewarding non-fiction read of 2019.

Nothing makes me feel older than speaking to someone and they were too young to remember watching the towers fall on TV. I think that's why I found this book so interesting, it's such a significant day in history that occurred in my lifetime. Reading this gave me details of the fallout I was too young to understand at the time.

As the title suggests, the book is split into two parts: ‘Fall' and ‘Rise' (for anyone daunted by the size of the book, at least the final 100 pages are appendices and an index of the victims). The pacing of ‘Fall' often reads like a thriller, where you unfortunately already know the tragic outcome. By going into the details of the lives of some of the passengers, airline staff and people working in the twin towers and Pentagon, it accentuated the scale of the tragedy. The flight attendant who almost missed her morning bus to the airport, the passengers that had extended their weekends away and rescheduled to travel on September 11th instead... so many twists of fate that ended disastrously.

‘Rise' details the rebuilding of the towers and what happened to the survivors after the attack. The shocking lack of aftercare for the emergency service workers that were involved, and the trauma and guilt experienced by those in the towers that survived. I visited New York in November 2019 and seeing the names of some of the people I had read about engraved into the memorial and their belongings on display in the museum added extra gravity to an already reflective and emotional experience.

‘Fall and Rise' is not a light read. I actually read another book at the same time when I needed a break from the bleak details the attack. I am so glad I read it though, it gave me a whole new appreciation of the resilience of the people of New York and made my visit to the museum even more impactful. The whole story was handled very sensitively, avoiding gratuitous descriptions of the terror that was inflicted but not shying away from the realities of September 11th. An essential read and one of the most engaging non-fiction books I have ever read.

November 2, 2019

Pieter

Het moge duidelijk zijn dat 9/11 een landmark is in de geschiedenis. Mensen die het bewust hebben meegemaakt weten, tot op de dag van vandaag, waar ze waren en wat ze deden.
De iconische beelden staan in ieders geheugen gegrift. Dit boek beschrijft de gebeurtenissen van die dag aan de hand van talloze persoonlijke verhalen. Ook die van de kapers, in zoverre dat te reconstrueren is. Het doet dit op een zeer zorgvuldige manier.

Het boek heeft drie delen. In het eerste deel wordt de aanloop naar 9/11 en de kapingen zelf beschreven.
Wat mij enorm trof was de totale verwarring die er heerste. De FAA communiceerde niet met defensie, er waren vliegtuigen ‘kwijt' en er is nog lang doorgezocht naar vlucht 11 nadat deze zich allang in het WTC had geboord. Totale chaos.
Alle losse verhalen die mensen hebben worden knap verweven tot één verhaal. Ook de verhalen van passagiers die nog contact hebben gezocht met familie en vrienden of de hulpdiensten.
Het deel eindigt met het emotionele relaas van vlucht 93.

Het tweede deel beschrijft de gebeurtenissen op de grond. Wat er gebeurd is in de torens van het WTC en niet te vergeten, het Pentagon. Er hebben zich afschuwelijke taferelen afgespeeld. Het is heel schrijnend om te lezen dat de Port Authority mensen in de torens heeft geadviseerd om te blijven waar ze waren totdat ze zouden worden ontruimd door de hulpdiensten. Mensen die de Zuid toren hadden verlaten, nadat vlucht 11 zich in Noord toren had geboord, werden geadviseerd om gewoon weer terug te gaan naar hun kantoren. Zelfs nadat het bevel tot evacuatie was gegeven drong dit niet door tot alle 911 operators, die bleven adviseren om te blijven waar je bent, met alle dramatische gevolgen van dien toen de torens instortten.

Het derde en laatste deel van het boek gaat over hoe het is afgelopen met alle personen die voorbij komen in het boek en hun familie. Er zitten veel emotionele verhalen tussen. Vanwege de vele namen had ik soms moeite om ze te plaatsen en moest ik terug in het boek om te kijken wie het ook alweer waren.

Uiteindelijk geeft het boek een redelijk compleet beeld van de gebeurtenissen op die dag in september 2001. Door de vele persoonlijke verhalen is het geen afstandelijk verslag maar wordt je meegesleept in de drama's die zich afspeelden. Absolute aanrader maar wees voorbereid op een emotionele rollercoaster.