Book Review: Report From Ground Zero + Jon Stewart Kicking Ass

Rating: 5 Stars

I was all set to do a double-review post with this book and another about September 11th, until I saw that Jon Stewart was trending on Twitter earlier this morning, and as I just checked again tonight, he still is.

I greatly admire Jon Stewart. I never missed an episode of The Daily Show when he hosted for all those years, and appreciated the fact that, while he clearly leans Liberal, he was willing to take any politician to task for being an idiot or doing something stupid. Throughout the election season I hoped and hoped and hoped he would come out of hibernation and sure enough, he appeared on Colbert's show and my heart was happy.

Since his retirement from the daily grind of news and politics, Stewart has not been idle. He has been an extremely active and vocal supporter of the First Responders Fund and today he was trending because once again, Congress can not get their shit together and do right by these brave men and women who ran into burning buildings in the hopes of rescuing as many as possible. Many have become dangerously ill in the aftermath and instead of doing the right thing and making funding for their care permanent, these assholes think that making the First Responders come back constantly to answer their stupid questions is a good idea.

Please watch this clip and listen to Stewart's verbal ass-kicking of those who could not even be bothered to show up for the hearing. Because of this event occurring today, this is why I felt I had to review this particular book on its own, because the men and women who ran in when everyone else was running out did their jobs exactly as they were supposed. The least we can do now is our jobs, and make sure they and their families are taken care of.

I am so glad the First Responders have such a dedicated champion in Stewart, and I hope Congress wakes the fuck up and stops dicking around with their health.

Now, onto the book...

It was really hard to read. I cried a lot. There were stretches of time that I had to put the book down and give myself a break. It was traumatic then, and it's traumatic to this day. At around 100 pages in, I was considering DNF-ing it - while simultaneously giving it five stars, That might be a first, no? But I kept going, because these are stories that need to be told. If we truly are going to #NeverForget, then we owe it to all who perished to learn their stories, and those who survived, to listen as they recount the terrible things they saw that day. Otherwise that hashtag promise doesn't mean a thing.

Imagine being a parent, and also being a fire-fighter. Your child, a fire-fighter as well, is among the missing. Day after day after day you go to Ground Zero, hoping and praying that today is the day. Today will be the day you find your baby, and you get to take him home to your family, and lay him to rest.

At the beginning of the book the author listed the name of all the firefighters lost that day. Every time a new account started, or a new name was mentioned, I would flip to that list and hope that particular person survived. I was disappointed many times.

I connected deeply to the stories themselves, either from survivors or from the loved ones of those who died. Their words are so critically important, we can not ever lose those stories. The part I struggled with a lot was the author's own habit of inserting himself into the narrative. His expertise mattered in the realm of explaining how the crews were sent out, the difference between the companies (ladder vs engine), and so on. I have no concrete knowledge of how firehouses operate and I found those details helpful in understanding how and why so many from certain houses were lost, while fewer firefighters died from other houses. But the rest felt kind of like he was also showing off, and it honestly pains me to write that, because this book is still important and it is still a must-read for those interested in learning all they can about September 11th. The author talked about many of the firehouses he visited in the aftermath, and of going down to Ground Zero often, and we were usually given a side order of how popular he was with the firemen, though he was retired, and how he knows so many people. He mentions his previous book a few times, Report from Engine Company 82, and I am torn between believing that he is using it to show that he is knowledgeable vs him showing off.

Even with the off-putting tone of the author personally, there is value here. Highly recommended.

Saved By The Boats: The Heroic Sea Evacuation of September 11

Rating: 5 Stars

Wow. Just, wow.

I saw this at the library the other day when my now-five year old and I were completing one of the scavenger hunts for musical instruments in the hopes of scoring symphony tickets this upcoming season. I was struck by the simplicity of the cover, and those towers, and the fact that this is a story of 9/11 that I did not actually know about.

If you have read other reviews I've done of books on 9/11, you know this is a particularly emotional thing for me, despite the fact that I was halfway across the country. I was about three weeks into my freshman year of college, a six-hour drive from home; it was both terrifying and exhilarating. That beautiful morning as I was getting ready for an 8 AM class, I briefly saw something on the news about an airplane hitting the North Tower. I was in shock, but still thought like so many others that it was a tragic accident. As I trekked across campus and arrived for class, it was obvious it was no accident, when the second plan struck the South Tower. There I was, an 18 year old kid far from home, already dealing with the major changes of navigating the beginning of the end of life as a dependent human being, and our nation was under attack.

Like with so many others, through the pain and trauma, the hero stories became the thing that helped us cope. The First Responders running into the towers while everyone else was running out. The stories of men and women who helped their colleagues to safety, risking their own lives in the process and ultimately sacrificing themselves so others might have a chance.

That is exactly what this book is about, the heroes. I never realized how many evacuations were actually made by water. So often when I have read books about that day, so many survivors recounted trekking miles and miles to safety. There was nothing to do but walk, and walk, and walk. I never realized so many of them ended up walking to the harbors, seeking safety there.

One of the reason I chose this book was so I could read it with Eleanor, but also to learn a bit more for myself. One might think this is a heavy topic for a five year old, and you would be exactly right. It is a heavy topic. Every so often I will let Eleanor go through her Amazon cart and pick some books out (free shipping over $25, woohoo!). She really likes that What Is/Who Is/Where Is series and one of the books she chose a while back is What Were the Twin Towers. I looked through it when we received it and knew right away that it would just be too much for a four year old, even one with the intelligence and maturity that Eleanor has. She has asked about it a few times, and I have explained that some bad men wanted to hurt our country, so they took some airplanes and crashed them, and many people died because of the bad men. Once I saw this book and flipped through it, I knew that it could do a much better job of explaining the horrors of 9/11, and I was right.

"While more than one million people searched for escape, hundreds of boat captains sailed into the destruction. They felt a call to action, a desire to help, a realization that they could provide a safe harbor. They were ordinary people who became heroes on a day when greatness was desperately needed.

A day when the unthinkable happened."

(page 3)

The drawings, as much as the words, truly convey the feelings of the day. They are all done in black and a tannish off-white. But the sky is a brilliant crisp, clear blue, just as it has been described time and again. Only the smoke from the towers is a charcoal black, flowing across the pages. The choice of the tannish off-white works so well because to me it really captured the fact that these survivors, struggling to escape, were covered from head to toe with ash. The diversity is still there if you take the time to look, a woman in a hijab holding her child close, shoppers with bags, students with backpacks, young men with afros, men in baseball caps, women and men in suits with their briefcases. The message is unmistakable: that day, covered with ash, they were all the same. They were all Americans, trying to reach safety, pushed to the edge of the island in a desperate attempt to escape Lower Manhattan.

As I was reading to Eleanor, she stopped once, and told me it was so sad that so many people got hurt and she did not want to read anymore because she did not want to be sad. I pulled her onto my lap and explained that she was right, it was a sad story. But if we kept reading, we would find out about all the brave captains and crews who went into the danger even though they did not have to, because they wanted to help. She thought about it for a minute, and then we continued reading. So many times I had a lump in my throat, and that kind of funny feeling that starts in your stomach and rises up as you speak, that kind of pride knowing that on September 11th, we were all in this together. The text included direct quotes from captains, firefighters, and engineers who witnessed it, as boats of all kinds came to the rescue, responding to the Coast Guard's call between 11 and 11:30 that morning: "All available boats! This is the United States Coast Guard aboard the pilot boat New York. Anyone wanting to help with the evacuation of Lower Manhattan, report to Governor's Island" (page 14). And help, they did. Boats from all over arrived, even private boats. Tugboats, ferries, and party boats came with captains and crews, ready and willing to haul as many passengers as possible to safety.

Tom Sullivan was a firefighter aboard a fireboat in the harbor as thousands of people ran toward the Hudson when the Towers first came down, before the Coast Guard call went out. Thousands became hundreds of thousands, with people climbing over railings when necessary and boarding boats already there. Sullivan recounted how, "People were just diving onto the boat...Mothers and nannies with infants in their arms were dropping the children down to us. And then we helped the mothers and nannies down" (page 13).

Boats sailed back and forth from Manhattan, taking the weary survivors to New Jersey, then heading back to the island with rescue workers and supplies. The author notes (having been one of the evacuees herself, which she explains in an author's note) how police officers warned the thousands and thousands of people queuing up for boats that it could be several hours before they could get going, due to the massive numbers of people lined up. In the end, it took nine hours to ferry nearly 500,000 people across to Jersey. 500,000. That number is insane to me, but it is a testament to just how many hundreds of boats responded to the call, helmed by captains and crews who were under no obligation to do so.

"It was the largest sea evacuation in history.

It was an answer to a call for help.

It was a light on the city's darkest day"

(page 29)

I had tears in my eyes by the end. Eleanor asked if I was sad. I told her I was proud that, even on such a terrible day, people found the courage to do what most will never have the opportunity to: risk their lives for another human being with little thought for their own safety. That is one of the lasting legacies of that horrible day and amid the trauma, something we can be proud of.

Reluctant Hero: A 9/11 Survivor Speaks Out About That Unthinkable Day, What He's Learned, How He's Struggled, and What No One Should Ever Forget

Rating: 4 Stars

Books about that day are difficult to read, but necessary. We can't forget that day, though we have forgotten the time of unity that followed it. I have a hard time reviewing books about 9-11 because it was such a tragedy and how do sit there and critique someone's experience of the worst day of their life? You don't. But I have a few thoughts about this one, and that will suffice for a review.

I was a freshman in college on 9-11. It was a few weeks into the school year, I was away from home for the first time in my life (about a six hour drive), and I think that is why this day has had the impact on me that it did. I was already going through this huge transition in my own life, and then suddenly so is my country. It was a lot to take in. So, I am drawn to the stories of the survivors and victims alike, and read these books to honor the memories of those who were lost and recognize the courage and struggle of those left behind.

As it turns out, Michael Benfante is a man I have seen dozens of times, though I did not realize it until picking up this book. He is, in fact, the man you have seen a clip of hundreds of times, running full-speed past a cameraman on the street who wipes his lens and continues filming as the second tower comes down. As I read the book and he mentioned this, I even looked up the interview clip he mentioned and sure enough, I had seen that before as well.

I really appreciated the way the author told his story. It was raw and angry and hopeful, even. We heard all the time in those chaotic days that followed of countless, selfless acts of kindness and heroism. Benfante is no exception, as he and a co-worker carried a woman who was stranded in her wheelchair, Tina Hansen, out of the North Tower, taking nearly an hour to escape when they could have simply passed by as others had.

This is what really shows the strength and resiliency of America and our people. When we were under attack, people looked out for one another. People lined up for blocks to donate blood, people like Welles Crowther returned time and again to the Sky Lobby to save as many people as he could.

At around 65% the author began recounting his visit back to Ground Zero for the first time since escaping the North Tower that day. I don't know if I could ever have gone back, had I been one of the survivors. I watch videos of that day, the plans hitting the towers and them falling, and that is hard enough. Knowing the trauma and tragedy going on inside as the planes burned and the towers eventually fell, it is mind-boggling. I don't think I could do it - I'm not even sure I could go to NYC and see the memorial, though I feel it is something I have to do at some point in my life. Benfante is much stronger than I am, even if he does not feel that way.

Prior to reading this, I had never heard the phrase "9-11 Fatigue" and I would love to know who the d-bag is that came up with that. If we stop talking about it, we start forgetting it. We forget the terror, the horror, the tragedy of that day. For a brief moment in time, our country was united and it would be so wonderful to be that way again. I just don't want another attack like 9-11 have to be the thing that makes people see it. I know right now we are more divided than ever, with good reason, but at some point we have to come together. A house divided cannot stand (I am by no means suggesting we forgive and forget the atrocious election season or its result, that is another conversation for another time), but there has to be some way to move forward and make progress, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say we do not want another 9-11 to be that catalyst.

In closing, I enjoyed this book as much as one can enjoy something of such tragedy. But we need these stories, and need to know there are still good people in the world who will do whatever they can for a stranger in their time of need. Some reviews stated the author was too angry and too repetitive, to which I stink-eye snidely and say, "Um, yeah, I think he's earned the right to be angry, he survived 9-11."

Highly recommended.

The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes

Rating: 3 Stars

This is a tough one to review, or even rate. I feel like if I give it a lower rating or speak to the disjointed flow of the narrative, then I am somehow devaluing the experience of these three young me and their actions to help stop an ISIS attack on this train and its passengers. That is not my intention at all. The story itself is captivating but the writing really just made it difficult to stick with.

I would assume that Jeffrey Stern did most of the writing despite the fact that the three young men are billed first. That is typically the case with books such as these. If Sadler, Skarlatos, and Stone had done all the writing themselves, I would be far more willing to cut these guys some slack, not being professional writers. But with the presence of Stearn, I expected better. The flow of information and the unfolding of events prior to the attack itself were simply told in a totally boring way. Then the disjointedness comes from the fact that the attack was not told in one section and was interspersed between the stories of each young man and how they met and became friends, growing up together, and eventually meeting up to travel together on that fateful day to Paris.

One thing of interest that struck me was their waffling on whether or not to actually go to Paris in the first place. While traveling, others had suggested foregoing Paris for other locations, but in the end, these men ended up on that train. And thank goodness they did. Who knows how many might have been injured or killed had this terrorist been successful. This idea of fate is an interesting one and there have been many times in my life I have acted on gut instinct to make a decision. Part of the reason is because, in high school I ignored a gut instinct and moments later was hit nearly head-on in my little 1986 Chevy Nova by a Ford Bronco running a light. I don't often ignore my instincts anymore and I am so glad these young men didn't either.

If the book does nothing else, it at least points out the glaringly obvious fact that the media in the US is totally screwed up (something we already knew, given the media's treatment of Bernie compared to Hillary throughout the primary season). I remember when this story first broke, it was all about how three US Marines on leave had thwarted a terrorist attack. That was completely inaccurate. Two of the three young men are in the military, however NONE were Marines. It just goes to show you how quickly the media will jump on a story without having all the facts. This is certainly nothing these men did wrong, but is an big indicator of how ridiculous media outlets here are.

I am really going to miss President Obama and his sense of humor once he leaves the White House. There is a point in the narrative when they are recalling their initial phone conversation with Obama and he says, "...I was just talking to Spencer and told him, like, when I have a class reunion kind of thing, we just have a beer, we don't like, tackle terrorists or anything" (page 84).

In the end, it is not a bad story, but still a poorly told one. The moving back and forth between their childhoods and the event on the train was frustrating because it made the narrative so choppy. That does not diminish the importance of the story and I feel like it is still one that needs to be told and read and applauded. The way it was told simply did not work for me.

102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

Rating: 5 Stars

I mean, really. How do you write a review about a book like this? I am not sure, but I will try. Though, I am fairly confident I will meet the same challenges here that I did when I reviewed Flight 93 by Tom McMillan, and I probably won't do this book justice. But I will try.

First the cover. I have never once been to NYC in my entire life. It is on my bucket list, it is a dream of mine to go. My first glimpses of New York came in the mid-90s when I started watching FRIENDS. Yes, I was 11, don't judge. I loved the skyline of the city regularly shown in the episodes and something about the towers spoke to me. So, here on the cover there they are, outlined, still standing like guardians.  I can't look at a photo of the Manhattan skyline now and not place the towers back there myself in my mind. Seeing the cover, in all its simplicity, is comforting and heartbreaking. I just wish there was less text on the cover. In particular, I could do without the plug at the top, comparing it to Lord's 'A Night to Remember'. Still, it is beautiful. The towers are beautiful. That is how I always want to remember them.

(From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_New_York_City)

While we are sort of on the subject of Walter Lord and his book (that coincidentally, I recently reviewed) 'A Night to Remember', I do have one small complaint. Not only did that little blurb I mentioned above do so, but there are a couple points in the book where the sinking of the Titanic and the terrorist attacks of 9-11 are compared. This bothered me a lot. I always feel like comparing tragedies in this way somehow diminishes their importance. I don't think it is necessary or helpful. Luckily, it only occurs a couple times and it is the only real complaint I have. I even feel a little guilty for having a complaint at all.

Aside from the, pardon my language, A-HOLES, who took it upon themselves to crash two airplanes into the Twin Towers, it seems that the two biggest factors that contributed to the senseless deaths of so many innocent people were poor building planning before, and lack of any communication during.

I hope by this point the police and fire departments have gotten over their pathetic pissing contests and are able to communicate. It was so incredibly childish to read time and again of squabbles between the two forces and how it impacted their work on September 11th. There were special radios purchased specifically for the use of the two departments to communicate, yet they could not agree on who would be in charge of the frequency so the radios went unused. The fire commanders had to contact their dispatchers who then contacted the police. Talk about a major time-waster. I honestly could not believe what I was reading and throughout it became painfully obvious that so many deaths would be directly because of this lack of communication.

On the same theme, it baffled me how many people in the south tower began evacuating when the north tower was struck, yet were told everything was okay and they could go back upstairs and resume their days. I understand that when the first plane hit, everyone thought it was an accident. But there is no way I could have in good conscience told people to go back upstairs, nor is that a directive I could have followed. I also realize that no one expected the towers to come down, but remaining inside seemed like such a huge risk to take. For example, when Port Authority employee Patrick Hoey called the PA police desk from his office in the north tower, he was told to stay put and the police would come to him. I don't understand why he was told this. Several people on his floor, 64, left immediately. Flight 11 had crashed into the building nearly 30 floors above them. Mr. Hoey, like so many others that day, should have survived. I don't understand why so many people were told to stay put. I also don't understand why the direction was obeyed. Perhaps many were there for the bombing in 1993 and were unfazed? I am not sure and it is so frustrating to think how many more lived might have been saved. At what point too does the idea of self-preservation kick in, especially when seeing/hearing so many others evacuating from the higher floors?

One thing that may be of comfort to family members left behind that day are the countless stories of heroism. It was so refreshing to see that, despite the lack of communication, the miscommunication, the incorrect information, and so on, there were ordinary people who performed extraordinary feats in the face of death. People like Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz who went floor by floor, freeing people who were trapped by jammed doors, directing them to safety. Then there are those who were not named, people like Welles Crowther who, time and again, returned to the burning Sky Lobby to lead others to safety - though like De Martini and Ortiz, would not make it home. I first learned of Crowther specifically when ESPN aired the short, "Man in the Red Bandana", which you can watch HERE if you have not seen it yet. In the book, survivors detail how a man "appeared out of no where", at one point carrying a woman on his back, leading others, performing first aid, rescuing people. Time and again Crowther returned to the 78th floor where Flight 175 had struck, killing so many on impact. Yet Crowther directed dazed survivors and was able to make sure that those he could help reached safety. Yet he was never named in the book, and this bothered me because of the postscript that was included for the 10th anniversary edition. I wouldn't expect them to change the original text, but mentioning the identity of Crowther in the postscript might have been appropriate. This detail bothered me so much in fact, that I emailed the author, Jim Dwyer, at the New York Times to ask about it. He responded quite promptly, saying that at the time the book was first printed, Crowther had not yet been identified as the man in the red bandana, and he agreed that the story is truly an inspiring one. So, I felt a little better, but would still like to see him acknowledged somewhere in a subsequent edition. The courage that so many showed that day is beyond anything I could hope for in myself. I'd like to believe I would think of others, do what I could to rescue people, but we never really know how we will respond until we are in the moment and truthfully, I hope that day never comes for me. Frank De Martini, Pablo Ortiz, Welles Crowther. Remember these names. They are heroes.

Perhaps one of the hardest stories for me to read was that of Ed Beyea. He was confined to a wheelchair, a quadriplegic, and ultimately did not survive. Time and again firefighters and rescuers passed by him as he and his friend, Abe Zelmanowitz waited patiently for help. Though Abe was able, he never left his friend's side and the two men, presumably along with Captain Burke, perished when the north tower came down.

Some have complained about the jumping viewpoints and that the story is not linear, but I could not disagree more. It is written in a way that gives you a feeling for the day, the chaos and terror going on inside the tower for those agonizing 102 minutes. I found myself reading of someone, then flipping quickly to the back where the authors listed the names of those who ultimately did not survive, hoping to not see their names. Of course, 131 times, I was disappointed. The authors cover so many stories of both victims and survivors in the book, and of all of those stories told, 131 people did not survive and are memorialized; employees are listed with which tower they worked in, then those at the Marriott, firefighters, police officers (both NYPD and PAPD), then NYC Emergency Medical Services. There are so many more stories I want to tell, but it is best if you read it for yourself, hear the stories from the survivors and the loved ones left behind.

Though this national tragedy occurred 15 years ago this coming September, the day is very vivid in my mind. The world I grew up in is gone and it makes me sad for future generations, for my own daughter, that this is the world she has to navigate now. It has only been recently that I have been able to start reading about September 11th, and if you are like me and find it difficult still, then start with this one. If you read nothing else about that day, this will give you a much better understanding of how and why so many did not make it home - not only because of the planes, but so many other factors working against the employees housed in the towers. Highly recommended.

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

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

It will be 15 years this September since the United States was attacked from within, and I am still not sure I am capable of writing a passable review about any book on the subject. I recall with near-perfect clarity that entire, terrible day. I was getting ready for class in the early weeks of my freshman year of college that Tuesday morning and heard something about a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers. By the time I trekked to the opposite end of campus for my first class of the day, both towers were in flames, hundreds of people were dead, and may more would die before it was finally over. Being in a journalism class, you'd think our professor would have understood why our eyes were glued to the television instead of listening to him. We watched in awe as the first tower fell, and then he did the unthinkable. He turned off the t.v.

Yes, I am totally serious. A few students walked out of class. Some were still too stunned by what they had seen to do anything. The rest of the day was very surreal. I didn't go to my next class, but in hindsight I assume it was probably cancelled anyway. I sat in my dorm room the rest of the day and night, watching the live coverage continue, seeing the devastation at Ground Zero, the gaping wound in the Pentagon, and that final, lonely field in Pennsylvania.

Nearly 15 years on however, I realize Flight 93, and these brave passengers, were the ones I knew least about. I don't know if I can give a review here that will do justice to these heroic men and women who fought back against these monsters bent on killing as many people as possible, but I will certainly try. It has been frustrating to me that Flight 93 has become a kind of afterthought when looking at the destruction of NYC and DC. I am not sure why this is. Perhaps because there was literally nothing left of the plane, nothing to identify it in anyway as related to the terrorist attacks, save for a large pit? Whatever the reason, books like this one are important, so that we may remember everyone lost that day, and those who did everything they could to try and stop it. While the target of Flight 93 has never been determined, the most likely destination was the Capitol, considering Bush wasn't at the White House at the time. On the other hand, what better way to demoralize a country further, than to destroy the very home where the country's (contested - I definitely wouldn't have voted for him) leader lived? Either way, who knows how many were saved due to the actions of those on-board Flight 93.

This text is incredibly well-researched, down to the smallest detail. My initial concern with giving this one a try was that I did not want to read a bunch of conjecture about what might have happen in those final minutes. I was surprised to find that, thanks to the numerous phone calls that passengers made to their loved ones, we actually know quite a bit about their final minutes. The author presents the information from numerous perspectives. We get a great details of information about the various passengers, the little town of Shanksville and her coroner, who went above and beyond the call of duty for the families, and even of the hijackers. For the most part I wanted to know very little about these murderers. I prefer to forget them and remember those who are deserving, those who sacrificed themselves so others might live, not those who murdered innocent people and called it war. Still, I do not believe this was done in a tasteless way, and the whole story together flowed. It also gave an eye-opening experience as to just how easy the hijackers had it in coming here, getting their licenses, and eventually going on to their deaths.

As I read this in Kindle format, the actual text of the book only comprised 58% of the entire file. Following that was a list of crew and passengers, along with their job, hometown, and reason for being on the flight that morning. Something I would have appreciated in this section were photos to accompany the names, to see who these people were. One aspect of the book that bothered me was that after this list, came four photos of the hijackers. I later found that any passenger photos that were included were mixed in among photos of the crash site and items recovered. I was surprised to see what items could survive such an impact and that there were physical things returned to loved ones after all was said and done. This bothered me because I did not want to see those faces. I did not want those murderers given any more attention than they have already had and I could not care less what they looked like. How many times do you recall seeing their photos all lines up in rows, newscast after newscast? And yet, I do not remember seeing the victims' faces nearly as often. I can understand if some families did not want to include pictures of their loved ones, but if they were available publicly, it would have been a service to the book to include them. Certainly, the photos should not have been scattered among the debris AFTER the terrorists. The photos should have been included with the passengers' names on the list immediately following the text.

The final 26% of the book then was devoted to the author's notes and sources for the book. These were incredibly exhaustive, and broken up by chapter. I have not seen quite so extensive a bibliography in such a while. Following that even was a more general bibliography, also containing numerous titles that would be of interest to anyone seeking more knowledge of that terrible day in September. Highly, highly recommended.