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102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
"102 Minutes does for the September 11 catastrophe what Walter Lord did for the Titanic in his masterpiece, A Night to Remember . . . Searing, poignant, and utterly compelling."
—Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Army at Dawn
Hailed upon its hardcover publication as an instant classic, the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller 102 Minutes is now available in a revised edition timed to honor the tenth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
At 8:46 a.m. that morning, fourteen thouosand people were inside the World Trade Center just starting their workdays, but over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages. Of the millions of words written about this wrenching day, most were told from the outside looking in. New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn draw on hundreds of interviews with rescuers and survivors, thousands of pages of oral histories, and countless phone, e-mail, and emergency radio transcripts to tell the story of September 11 from the inside looking out.
Dwyer and Flynn have woven an epic and unforgettable account of the struggle, determination, and grace of the ordinary men and women who made 102 minutes count as never before.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2005
880 people are currently reading
23327 people want to read
About the author
Jim Dwyer
7 books13 followersJim Dwyer was an American journalist and author. He was a reporter and columnist with The New York Times, and the author or co-author of six non-fiction books. A native New Yorker, Dwyer wrote columns for New York Newsday and the New York Daily News before joining the Times. He appeared in the 2012 documentary film Central Park Five and was portrayed on stage in Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy (2013). Dwyer had won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his "compelling and compassionate columns about New York City" and was also a member of the New York Newsday team that won the 1992 Pulitzer for spot news reporting for coverage of a subway derailment in Manhattan.
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September 11, 2018
The last moments of Kevin Cosgrove’s life were presented as the Government’s Exhibit P200017 in the case of United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui. Originally labeled the “20th hijacker,” Moussaoui was eventually tried as part of a conspiracy to launch a second wave of attacks against the United States, following September 11, 2001.
Exhibit P200017 is a split-screen video: on the right side of the screen is the South Tower of the World Trade Center; on the left side of the screen, you see the transcript of Cosgrove’s final call to 911 dispatch, which begins at 9:53 a.m. The audio of Cosgrove’s call plays over the split screen, while the tower burns and the seconds slip away. The entirety of the call (though it is clear that Cosgrove made several others) lasts 4 minutes and 53 seconds.
It is a remarkable and agonizing thing to hear. Cosgrove is clearly in a desperate situation, but though he is anxious, he doesn’t panic. Over and over, he demands to know when help will arrive. The 911 dispatcher tries to placate him with generalities; Cosgrove, however, won’t accept that as an answer. During this striking colloquy, there are several instances when the 911 dispatcher lapses into silence, to the point where Cosgrove has to ask whether she is still there. It is clear that the dispatcher simply doesn’t know what to say; and really, there is nothing for her to say. She probably didn’t know it at the time, but there was no power on heaven and earth that could’ve reached Kevin Cosgrove on the 105th Floor of Tower 2. Indeed, from the first moments of the disaster, a fire chief reportedly told New York’s mayor Rudy Giuliani that rescue above the impact zones was impossible.
As the call plays out, Cosgrove displays flashes of understandable anger. He is annoyed at having to repeatedly give the dispatcher information he has already relayed (he angrily spells out his last name, which are displayed in all-caps on the Government’s transcription). When the dispatcher tells him to “hang in there,” Cosgrove responds: “You can say that. You’re in an air conditioned building.” Later, after describing the smoke filling the office, he says plaintively: “We’re young men. We’re not ready to die.”
Four minutes and forty seconds into the video, there is a tremendous rush of sound. The video on the right side of the screen shows the top portion of Tower 2 fold in on itself and begin to collapse. Cosgrove’s last words – “OH GOD! OH!” – end abruptly, and a computerized voice logs the message number. He was one of 614 people who died in Tower 2, and one of 2,606 people who died in New York that day.
For obvious reasons, including the mass casualties and the fact the disaster played out on live television, the tragedy of the Twin Towers has come to symbolize September 11. In 102 Minutes, reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn accept this reality and narrowly focus their story on the World Trade Center and the individuals within. The title refers to the length of time it took for both towers to collapse, following the first plane strike. Chapter 1 begins at 8:46 a.m., when Tower 1 is struck by American Airlines 11, and ends around 10:30 a.m., after Tower 1 has fallen (Tower 2, though hit second, fell first, due to the location of impact).
This is a book with a closed universe. Aside from a very brief prologue, meant to give a little context, there is no attempt to give a broad-stroke account of 9/11. There are no discussions about intelligence failures. No cutaways to the passengers on the hijacked jets. No mention of Bin Laden. No talk of politics. No arguments about post-9/11 foreign policy. This is a stripped down, gristle-free story of survival. Minute by minute it follows a broad swath of humanity – bankers and window washers, insurers and caterers, firemen and cops – as they struggle against the greatest high rise disaster in history. And always, the clock is winding down to the 102nd minute.
102 Minutes is the kind of book that grabs you by the throat and compels you to continue reading. In a way, it is a throwback to those old Readers Digest special features that told the personal stories of disaster survivors, such as those who escaped the Andria Doria. Make no mistake, however: the momentum of the story never makes you lose sight of the human dimension. To the contrary, the momentum is created by the very acute knowledge that these were real people in the not-too-distant past.
The subtitle of 102 Minutes purports to tell the “untold” story of the Twin Towers. Published six years ago, the incidents in 102 Minutes no longer qualify as untold (indeed, in a tenth anniversary reissue, the book has a new subtitle that substitutes the adjective “unforgettable”). To the contrary, many of the survivors and events recounted in the book have passed into legend and lore. This includes the amazing saga of Stairway B in the North Tower, in which six members of Ladder 6, along with bookkeeper Josephine Harris, weathered the collapse.
Still, the power of the stories remain undiminished. For example, there is Brian Clark, a broker for Euro Bank in Tower 2, who was one of only four survivors above the impact zone. Clark, armed with a flashlight because he was his floor’s fire warden, helped rescue Stanley Praimnath, who then surprised him with a hug and kiss. Their story is one of rare instances of levity on 9/11. As a study in contrasts – Clark, a white Canadian with a lilting voice; Praimnath, brown-skinned and reserved – the two wouldn’t have been out of place in a buddy cop movie. Flynn & Dwyer also tell of the remarkable escape from a stalled elevator. In that elevator, a quick-witted window washer named Jan Demczur used the metal frame of his squeegee to cut through dry wall.
Unfortunately, most of the stories recounted by Dwyer & Flynn lack a happy ending. There is Abe Zelmanowitz, a computer programmer, who refused to leave the side of his friend, Ed Beyea, a quadriplegic who could not get down the steps. There is Fire Marshal Ron Bucca, who along with Chief Orio Palmer, were the only known firefighters to reach the impact zone. And there is Port Authority construction manager Frank De Martini, who worked on the 88th floor of the North Tower; after the collision, he worked to pry open jammed doors on twelve floors around the crash zone. None of these men survived.
Whether it is a story of survival, or a story of loss, Dwyer and Flynn maintain the same, reportorial tone. Their style is objective and unadorned. The emotional wallop of 102 Minutes does not come from mawkish sentiments or high-flown rhetoric, but from the stories themselves, and from the known words of both the living and the dead.
Dwyer & Flynn do more than record 102 minutes of suffering and survival, doom and escape. They intercut these chapters with detailed and eye-opening examinations about the safety and security of the World Trade Center, and the effectiveness of the rescue operations. (Besides being informative, these breaks give the reader a chance to breath after the sustained intensity of the central narrative).
Dwyer & Flynn raise serious concerns about the construction of the Twin Towers, noting that their very design ensured the deaths of just about every worker above the impact zones. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500 people – a number eerily similar to the fatalities on the Titanic – survived the impacts of the airplanes. These folks, however, had no way to escape. Partially, this was due to changes in the building code, which relied heavily on new materials to ensure safety:
On September 11, the collision of the two jets into the Twin Towers starkly proved the necessity for better fireproofing measures and more staircases. This reality is ably reinforced by the inclusion of a number of helpful schematics and diagrams showing the layouts of the buildings from different angles. The most effective of these diagrams show the impact of the planes superimposed on the floor plans, highlighting the number of support beams damaged and stairwells blocked.
To their credit, Dwyer & Flynn also critique the emergency response to Twin Towers attacks. This is potentially uncomfortable territory, as it encroaches on our most cherished memories from that awful day: the heroic response of the New York Fire Department. Following 9/11, many Americans clung to the effectiveness of the emergency operations, even when everything else – our intelligence community, our airport security, our immigration offices, and our steel – seemed to fail. Mayor Giuliani spearheaded the charge, noting that tens of thousands of people had been rescued from the Towers.
In 102 Minutes, that conventional narrative is turned on its head. With journalistic precision, Dwyer & Flynn recount the miscues of the rescue operation. Most of these miscues come down to one word: communication. There were no amplifiers or repeaters to strengthen radio signals; the fire department could not communicate with the police department; the 911 system was overwhelmed. This led to an ad hoc operation resulting in disastrous – and in some cases unnecessary – fatalities. Firemen charged into the building carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment, including thick coils of hose, even though fire commanders knew from the beginning that they could not fight the fire. After the first tower fell, there was no way to get word to all the units in the second tower, and the consequences were predictable:
Defenders of the response point to the unprecedented nature of the World Trade Center attacks. But that argument ignores the 1993 bombing of the North Tower. In that incident, all these same issues – mainly, an utter lack of communication – cropped up. In the intervening years, they were not remedied.
In this light, Mayor Giuliani’s repetition of the conventional narrative seems designed to cover his own failure to press the issue of better equipment and communication. Dwyer & Flynn also fault him for locating the Office of Emergency Management in World Trade Center 7, right next door to the biggest (both literally and figuratively) terrorist targets in the universe. No one can impugn Giuliani’s personal bravery on the day of the attacks, which allowed him to step into the leadership vacuum left by a hightailing President Bush; however, his failure to replace faulty equipment and his inability to display tactical leadership loom large over that day.
Dwyer & Flynn take great pains to separate the chaos of the emergency response from the courage of the first responders. No one can overstate the guts it takes to rush into a burning building when everyone else is heading the opposite direction. Yet the courage of the firefighters was not a suicidal courage. They did not know what they were getting into: initially, the worst they feared was a partial collapse of the top floors; they did not hear early reports from helicopter crews that the buildings seemed to be weakening; and the men in Tower 1 did not know when Tower 2 fell. A failure in leadership squandered a lot of brave men.
The enduring image of the Twin Towers attacks will probably always remain the heroic rescuers. But the best thing 102 Minutes does is to show the courage of the ordinary workers, those people who kept their heads about them, even without years of training and conditioning. Just about everyone below the impact zones – some 12,000 people – survived. And they weren’t rescued; they saved themselves, evacuating in what Dwyer & Flynn call a “mass of civility.” Meanwhile, civilians such as window washer Demczur and manager De Martini saved lives with their gut impulses. Even those trapped above the impact zones, waiting to die, often kept an amazingly serene presence. These were people who were thinking and gathering information and problem solving till the final moments. Before he died, Kevin Cosgrove tramped down 20 floors before he was turned back by smoke and heat. Others tried desperately to reach the roof, knowing that rooftop rescues had been effectuated in 1993.
Ten years later, 9/11 is still an open wound. Alone among all the tragedies in the history of the world, it seems to stand outside the realm of art. (Fifteen hundred people died in the second highest-grossing film ever, but that probably didn't stop you from getting a large popcorn and soda). Every time a book is written, or a movie made, or a television program aired, or a song is sung about 9/11, a dozen scolds pop up to tell you the mere act of consuming such media is sacrilegious.
Accordingly, even a sober-minded, clear-eyed, ground-level view of this tragedy prompts a rejoinder from a certain segment of society: what’s the point? Why write another book about 9/11, a disaster just about every American saw unfold in real-time? The question certainly arose with the publication of 102 Minutes. Not only is it about 9/11, it is also a very good book. Since good books are often entertaining to read, this leads us into dangerous territory.
The short term answer is that 102 Minutes is a historical document, capturing and recording moments that get more distant every day. It helps correct a record that has been skewed by the immediate, emotional response to the attacks.
The longer view, and a more profound answer, is that 102 Minutes is an act of remembrance. Later generations, those who never watched the Towers fall, will meet Brian Clark and Ron Bucca and Kevin Cosgrove and others, and follow them through a short arc on the most trying day of their lives. And long after, beyond the time when even the survivors and witnesses have died, they will be remembered still, vivid in their humanity, fighting against the inevitable death that looms over us all.
Exhibit P200017 is a split-screen video: on the right side of the screen is the South Tower of the World Trade Center; on the left side of the screen, you see the transcript of Cosgrove’s final call to 911 dispatch, which begins at 9:53 a.m. The audio of Cosgrove’s call plays over the split screen, while the tower burns and the seconds slip away. The entirety of the call (though it is clear that Cosgrove made several others) lasts 4 minutes and 53 seconds.
It is a remarkable and agonizing thing to hear. Cosgrove is clearly in a desperate situation, but though he is anxious, he doesn’t panic. Over and over, he demands to know when help will arrive. The 911 dispatcher tries to placate him with generalities; Cosgrove, however, won’t accept that as an answer. During this striking colloquy, there are several instances when the 911 dispatcher lapses into silence, to the point where Cosgrove has to ask whether she is still there. It is clear that the dispatcher simply doesn’t know what to say; and really, there is nothing for her to say. She probably didn’t know it at the time, but there was no power on heaven and earth that could’ve reached Kevin Cosgrove on the 105th Floor of Tower 2. Indeed, from the first moments of the disaster, a fire chief reportedly told New York’s mayor Rudy Giuliani that rescue above the impact zones was impossible.
As the call plays out, Cosgrove displays flashes of understandable anger. He is annoyed at having to repeatedly give the dispatcher information he has already relayed (he angrily spells out his last name, which are displayed in all-caps on the Government’s transcription). When the dispatcher tells him to “hang in there,” Cosgrove responds: “You can say that. You’re in an air conditioned building.” Later, after describing the smoke filling the office, he says plaintively: “We’re young men. We’re not ready to die.”
Four minutes and forty seconds into the video, there is a tremendous rush of sound. The video on the right side of the screen shows the top portion of Tower 2 fold in on itself and begin to collapse. Cosgrove’s last words – “OH GOD! OH!” – end abruptly, and a computerized voice logs the message number. He was one of 614 people who died in Tower 2, and one of 2,606 people who died in New York that day.
For obvious reasons, including the mass casualties and the fact the disaster played out on live television, the tragedy of the Twin Towers has come to symbolize September 11. In 102 Minutes, reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn accept this reality and narrowly focus their story on the World Trade Center and the individuals within. The title refers to the length of time it took for both towers to collapse, following the first plane strike. Chapter 1 begins at 8:46 a.m., when Tower 1 is struck by American Airlines 11, and ends around 10:30 a.m., after Tower 1 has fallen (Tower 2, though hit second, fell first, due to the location of impact).
This is a book with a closed universe. Aside from a very brief prologue, meant to give a little context, there is no attempt to give a broad-stroke account of 9/11. There are no discussions about intelligence failures. No cutaways to the passengers on the hijacked jets. No mention of Bin Laden. No talk of politics. No arguments about post-9/11 foreign policy. This is a stripped down, gristle-free story of survival. Minute by minute it follows a broad swath of humanity – bankers and window washers, insurers and caterers, firemen and cops – as they struggle against the greatest high rise disaster in history. And always, the clock is winding down to the 102nd minute.
102 Minutes is the kind of book that grabs you by the throat and compels you to continue reading. In a way, it is a throwback to those old Readers Digest special features that told the personal stories of disaster survivors, such as those who escaped the Andria Doria. Make no mistake, however: the momentum of the story never makes you lose sight of the human dimension. To the contrary, the momentum is created by the very acute knowledge that these were real people in the not-too-distant past.
The subtitle of 102 Minutes purports to tell the “untold” story of the Twin Towers. Published six years ago, the incidents in 102 Minutes no longer qualify as untold (indeed, in a tenth anniversary reissue, the book has a new subtitle that substitutes the adjective “unforgettable”). To the contrary, many of the survivors and events recounted in the book have passed into legend and lore. This includes the amazing saga of Stairway B in the North Tower, in which six members of Ladder 6, along with bookkeeper Josephine Harris, weathered the collapse.
Still, the power of the stories remain undiminished. For example, there is Brian Clark, a broker for Euro Bank in Tower 2, who was one of only four survivors above the impact zone. Clark, armed with a flashlight because he was his floor’s fire warden, helped rescue Stanley Praimnath, who then surprised him with a hug and kiss. Their story is one of rare instances of levity on 9/11. As a study in contrasts – Clark, a white Canadian with a lilting voice; Praimnath, brown-skinned and reserved – the two wouldn’t have been out of place in a buddy cop movie. Flynn & Dwyer also tell of the remarkable escape from a stalled elevator. In that elevator, a quick-witted window washer named Jan Demczur used the metal frame of his squeegee to cut through dry wall.
Unfortunately, most of the stories recounted by Dwyer & Flynn lack a happy ending. There is Abe Zelmanowitz, a computer programmer, who refused to leave the side of his friend, Ed Beyea, a quadriplegic who could not get down the steps. There is Fire Marshal Ron Bucca, who along with Chief Orio Palmer, were the only known firefighters to reach the impact zone. And there is Port Authority construction manager Frank De Martini, who worked on the 88th floor of the North Tower; after the collision, he worked to pry open jammed doors on twelve floors around the crash zone. None of these men survived.
Whether it is a story of survival, or a story of loss, Dwyer and Flynn maintain the same, reportorial tone. Their style is objective and unadorned. The emotional wallop of 102 Minutes does not come from mawkish sentiments or high-flown rhetoric, but from the stories themselves, and from the known words of both the living and the dead.
Dwyer & Flynn do more than record 102 minutes of suffering and survival, doom and escape. They intercut these chapters with detailed and eye-opening examinations about the safety and security of the World Trade Center, and the effectiveness of the rescue operations. (Besides being informative, these breaks give the reader a chance to breath after the sustained intensity of the central narrative).
Dwyer & Flynn raise serious concerns about the construction of the Twin Towers, noting that their very design ensured the deaths of just about every worker above the impact zones. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500 people – a number eerily similar to the fatalities on the Titanic – survived the impacts of the airplanes. These folks, however, had no way to escape. Partially, this was due to changes in the building code, which relied heavily on new materials to ensure safety:
[T]he 1968 code eliminated the need for reinforced staircases and vestibules. Not only the fire towers disappeared. So did half the staircases. The 1968 code reduced the number of stairways required for buildings the size of the towers from six to three. Moreover, those three would have less protection, as the new code lowered the minimum fire resistance for walls around the shafts from three hours to two, and permitted them to be built from much less sturdy material. All these changes offered significant financial opportunities…They would increase the space available for rent by getting rid of stairways and make the building lighter by lowering the fire resistance and eliminating the requirements for masonry.
On September 11, the collision of the two jets into the Twin Towers starkly proved the necessity for better fireproofing measures and more staircases. This reality is ably reinforced by the inclusion of a number of helpful schematics and diagrams showing the layouts of the buildings from different angles. The most effective of these diagrams show the impact of the planes superimposed on the floor plans, highlighting the number of support beams damaged and stairwells blocked.
To their credit, Dwyer & Flynn also critique the emergency response to Twin Towers attacks. This is potentially uncomfortable territory, as it encroaches on our most cherished memories from that awful day: the heroic response of the New York Fire Department. Following 9/11, many Americans clung to the effectiveness of the emergency operations, even when everything else – our intelligence community, our airport security, our immigration offices, and our steel – seemed to fail. Mayor Giuliani spearheaded the charge, noting that tens of thousands of people had been rescued from the Towers.
In 102 Minutes, that conventional narrative is turned on its head. With journalistic precision, Dwyer & Flynn recount the miscues of the rescue operation. Most of these miscues come down to one word: communication. There were no amplifiers or repeaters to strengthen radio signals; the fire department could not communicate with the police department; the 911 system was overwhelmed. This led to an ad hoc operation resulting in disastrous – and in some cases unnecessary – fatalities. Firemen charged into the building carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment, including thick coils of hose, even though fire commanders knew from the beginning that they could not fight the fire. After the first tower fell, there was no way to get word to all the units in the second tower, and the consequences were predictable:
Nearly all the 6,000 civilians below the impact zone had left the north tower by the time of its collapse, a fact hard to square with the notion that most of the approximately 200 firefighters who died in the north tower could not get out because they were busy helping civilians. In the oral histories collected by the Fire Department, numerous firefighters recalled that they were unaware of how serious the situation had become in those final minutes. This does not mean that the firefighters were not a welcome and uplifting presence…Yet…[that presence] does not explain why so many firefighters died in a building they could have escaped and where there was scarcely anyone left who could be helped. On the 19th floor of the north tower, scores of doomed firefighters were seen…taking a rest break in the final minutes, coats off, axes against the wall, soaked in sweat…
Defenders of the response point to the unprecedented nature of the World Trade Center attacks. But that argument ignores the 1993 bombing of the North Tower. In that incident, all these same issues – mainly, an utter lack of communication – cropped up. In the intervening years, they were not remedied.
In this light, Mayor Giuliani’s repetition of the conventional narrative seems designed to cover his own failure to press the issue of better equipment and communication. Dwyer & Flynn also fault him for locating the Office of Emergency Management in World Trade Center 7, right next door to the biggest (both literally and figuratively) terrorist targets in the universe. No one can impugn Giuliani’s personal bravery on the day of the attacks, which allowed him to step into the leadership vacuum left by a hightailing President Bush; however, his failure to replace faulty equipment and his inability to display tactical leadership loom large over that day.
Dwyer & Flynn take great pains to separate the chaos of the emergency response from the courage of the first responders. No one can overstate the guts it takes to rush into a burning building when everyone else is heading the opposite direction. Yet the courage of the firefighters was not a suicidal courage. They did not know what they were getting into: initially, the worst they feared was a partial collapse of the top floors; they did not hear early reports from helicopter crews that the buildings seemed to be weakening; and the men in Tower 1 did not know when Tower 2 fell. A failure in leadership squandered a lot of brave men.
The enduring image of the Twin Towers attacks will probably always remain the heroic rescuers. But the best thing 102 Minutes does is to show the courage of the ordinary workers, those people who kept their heads about them, even without years of training and conditioning. Just about everyone below the impact zones – some 12,000 people – survived. And they weren’t rescued; they saved themselves, evacuating in what Dwyer & Flynn call a “mass of civility.” Meanwhile, civilians such as window washer Demczur and manager De Martini saved lives with their gut impulses. Even those trapped above the impact zones, waiting to die, often kept an amazingly serene presence. These were people who were thinking and gathering information and problem solving till the final moments. Before he died, Kevin Cosgrove tramped down 20 floors before he was turned back by smoke and heat. Others tried desperately to reach the roof, knowing that rooftop rescues had been effectuated in 1993.
Ten years later, 9/11 is still an open wound. Alone among all the tragedies in the history of the world, it seems to stand outside the realm of art. (Fifteen hundred people died in the second highest-grossing film ever, but that probably didn't stop you from getting a large popcorn and soda). Every time a book is written, or a movie made, or a television program aired, or a song is sung about 9/11, a dozen scolds pop up to tell you the mere act of consuming such media is sacrilegious.
Accordingly, even a sober-minded, clear-eyed, ground-level view of this tragedy prompts a rejoinder from a certain segment of society: what’s the point? Why write another book about 9/11, a disaster just about every American saw unfold in real-time? The question certainly arose with the publication of 102 Minutes. Not only is it about 9/11, it is also a very good book. Since good books are often entertaining to read, this leads us into dangerous territory.
The short term answer is that 102 Minutes is a historical document, capturing and recording moments that get more distant every day. It helps correct a record that has been skewed by the immediate, emotional response to the attacks.
The longer view, and a more profound answer, is that 102 Minutes is an act of remembrance. Later generations, those who never watched the Towers fall, will meet Brian Clark and Ron Bucca and Kevin Cosgrove and others, and follow them through a short arc on the most trying day of their lives. And long after, beyond the time when even the survivors and witnesses have died, they will be remembered still, vivid in their humanity, fighting against the inevitable death that looms over us all.
November 20, 2025
Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn - images from the National Book Foundation
102 Minutes covers the time from the initial impact at World Trade Center #1, the North Tower, to its collapse 102 minutes later. The focus is on survivors, how people managed. In telling heroic tales of survival and sacrifice, Dwyer and Flynn offer much relevant information about how the city construction code was subverted to allow the Trade Center’s design. There were, for example, an insufficient number of stairways, insufficient and untested insulation, and placement of stairs in a way that had been vociferously opposed by the fire department. 102 Minutes was a National Book Award finalist. For anyone interested in the events of 9/11, this is definitely worth checking out.
October 1, 2019
While reading this book, I had a business trip to Boston. While at the Boston airport I took the following photo. The flag over gate B32 is one of the memorials at Boston’s Logan airport. This is the gate that the plane that hit the North Tower departed from:
This book is fascinating but difficult to read. If you do not wish to relive the horrors of that day, this is not the book for you. You may also want to refrain from reading the quotes from inside the towers that I have included below. I know that this sort of content can be upsetting, but I do feel like keeping these words out there honors the memories of the victims.
This book focuses on what happens inside the towers in the 102 minutes between the first plane hitting and the second of the two towers collapsing. There is also an intro and an epilogue featuring some of the leadup and some of the aftermath, but overall, the main idea of this book was to discuss the evacuation and rescue efforts in the towers – giving some first-hand testimony providing clarity and dispelling some myths. Definitely a gripping read.
I leave you with some quotes from inside the towers. There are many more besides these, but this is just a sampling of the voices in the middle of tragedy. Again, maybe a bit hard to read, but important to remember!
"Yeah, hi, I am on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center, which had an explosion," – Chris Hanley - Windows on the World restaurant
"We are getting no direction up here! We need direction as to where we need to direct our guests and our employees as soon as possible." - Christine Olender, the assistant manager of the Windows on the World restaurant
“Hey Mom. I’m sure you’ve heard a plane crashed into World Trade Center One. I’m obviously alive and well but obviously pretty scared. Saw a guy fall out of probably the 91st storey all the way down. You’re welcome to give a call. Love you.” Brad Fetchet, Floor 89 – South Tower
“A plane crashed into the Trade Center. It’s on fire, and I’m in it, and I can’t breathe. Tell everyone I love them, and if I don’t get out... goodbye.” Brian Nunez, Floor 104 – North Tower
“Numerous civilians in all stairwells, numerous burn victims are coming down. We’re trying to send them down first . . . We’re still heading up” Captain Patrick Brown – North Tower
This book is fascinating but difficult to read. If you do not wish to relive the horrors of that day, this is not the book for you. You may also want to refrain from reading the quotes from inside the towers that I have included below. I know that this sort of content can be upsetting, but I do feel like keeping these words out there honors the memories of the victims.
This book focuses on what happens inside the towers in the 102 minutes between the first plane hitting and the second of the two towers collapsing. There is also an intro and an epilogue featuring some of the leadup and some of the aftermath, but overall, the main idea of this book was to discuss the evacuation and rescue efforts in the towers – giving some first-hand testimony providing clarity and dispelling some myths. Definitely a gripping read.
I leave you with some quotes from inside the towers. There are many more besides these, but this is just a sampling of the voices in the middle of tragedy. Again, maybe a bit hard to read, but important to remember!
"Yeah, hi, I am on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center, which had an explosion," – Chris Hanley - Windows on the World restaurant
"We are getting no direction up here! We need direction as to where we need to direct our guests and our employees as soon as possible." - Christine Olender, the assistant manager of the Windows on the World restaurant
“Hey Mom. I’m sure you’ve heard a plane crashed into World Trade Center One. I’m obviously alive and well but obviously pretty scared. Saw a guy fall out of probably the 91st storey all the way down. You’re welcome to give a call. Love you.” Brad Fetchet, Floor 89 – South Tower
“A plane crashed into the Trade Center. It’s on fire, and I’m in it, and I can’t breathe. Tell everyone I love them, and if I don’t get out... goodbye.” Brian Nunez, Floor 104 – North Tower
“Numerous civilians in all stairwells, numerous burn victims are coming down. We’re trying to send them down first . . . We’re still heading up” Captain Patrick Brown – North Tower
September 11, 2019
A flawless book that accomplishes the seemingly impossible: Presenting chaos and destruction in an orderly and cogent manner. I've seen documentaries and read other books about 9/11 but nothing has given me the nightmares that "102 Minutes" has. This is an instance where well-done literature can get much closer than a zoom lens.
The authors have impeccable credentials and smartly collate masses of information in order to bring the reader into the offices, the stairwells, alongside the firefighters, on the plaza and at the collapse of each tower while never engaging in spin, sentimentality or romanticism. Just facts and the subjective experiences of some of those who were there. The choice of voices in retrospect stands out as perfectly representative of the survivors and the dead. The information about the towers themselves, structure and building codes and fireproofing, was new to me.. And it's all arranged and presented with skill and artistry. This is truly a five-star book.
The authors have impeccable credentials and smartly collate masses of information in order to bring the reader into the offices, the stairwells, alongside the firefighters, on the plaza and at the collapse of each tower while never engaging in spin, sentimentality or romanticism. Just facts and the subjective experiences of some of those who were there. The choice of voices in retrospect stands out as perfectly representative of the survivors and the dead. The information about the towers themselves, structure and building codes and fireproofing, was new to me.. And it's all arranged and presented with skill and artistry. This is truly a five-star book.
August 10, 2018
In gripping details, the New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn have written down the attempts of the people in the towers to escape safely.
I still remember seeing the live news coverage of the catastrophe. Of the many documentaries I saw afterwards, most were told from the outside looking in. Like many people, I saw more images of destruction and death than I could absorb emotionally.
In this book, the reporters drew on countless interviews with rescuers and survivors, phone, e-mail, and emergency radio transcripts to tell the story of September 11 from the inside looking out.
Reading this book gave me the feeling I was time-traveling into the towers. I feel like I've witnessed the struggle to survive of the people inside the towers. Ordinary men and women who saved themselves and others, as well as men and women who were unable to save themselves and others.
After all these years, I feel like I finally got a grasp on this tragedy and the human experience of disaster and survival.
Great storytelling in a context of inadequate building safety and tragic flaws in emergency adequacy and response.
A remarkable accomplishment. It will stay with me forever.
10/10
I still remember seeing the live news coverage of the catastrophe. Of the many documentaries I saw afterwards, most were told from the outside looking in. Like many people, I saw more images of destruction and death than I could absorb emotionally.
In this book, the reporters drew on countless interviews with rescuers and survivors, phone, e-mail, and emergency radio transcripts to tell the story of September 11 from the inside looking out.
Reading this book gave me the feeling I was time-traveling into the towers. I feel like I've witnessed the struggle to survive of the people inside the towers. Ordinary men and women who saved themselves and others, as well as men and women who were unable to save themselves and others.
After all these years, I feel like I finally got a grasp on this tragedy and the human experience of disaster and survival.
Great storytelling in a context of inadequate building safety and tragic flaws in emergency adequacy and response.
A remarkable accomplishment. It will stay with me forever.
10/10
August 17, 2022
This book joins a few others that I have read that truly disturbed me to the point of tears. It is the story of the individuals, both civilian and police/fire personnel who were in the Twin Towers or went there on the rescue mission on 9/11/2001. It absolutely is emotionally devastating and I think what adds to the intensity it engenders is that we saw it live on television. The book doesn't need a long review...........it is a must read but be prepared to be relive the horror of that day.
July 27, 2018
A detailed, well written account of events inside the twin towers during the 102 minutes between the first airplane strike and the collapse of the second tower, with some astonishing stories of selflessness and bravery. A very good read, but not an easy one - which is exactly as it should be.
September 22, 2008
Oh
My
Goodness
I would put a spoiler alert on this, except that everyone already knows how this story ends.
I almost didn't make it through the book. I originally started reading it because of the technical explanations it had for all the things I never understood fully: the lack of communications, the faulty design of emergency exits in the towers, the layout of the buildings, the timing of the events, and so forth. However, the personal stories of the people involved are interspersed throughout the explanations. Information derived from 911 and family phone calls were pieced together to get a partial picture of what happened to individuals in the two towers before they went down.
Warning: This is very, very disturbing. It tries to stay as practical as possible, and doesn't delve into over-dramatizations...however, you are reading along about what is happening with a certain person, and all of the sudden you are seeing the story from another person's point of view. And then you realize it is because the other person is now gone. A real person, someone who really experienced this event. And their narration ends, just like that.
I spent a lot of time crying, and I really don't recommend this read to you if you don't have closure yet, or if you don't care to know the technical details of the terrorist attack. I'm not sure it was worth it for me, either.
My
Goodness
I would put a spoiler alert on this, except that everyone already knows how this story ends.
I almost didn't make it through the book. I originally started reading it because of the technical explanations it had for all the things I never understood fully: the lack of communications, the faulty design of emergency exits in the towers, the layout of the buildings, the timing of the events, and so forth. However, the personal stories of the people involved are interspersed throughout the explanations. Information derived from 911 and family phone calls were pieced together to get a partial picture of what happened to individuals in the two towers before they went down.
Warning: This is very, very disturbing. It tries to stay as practical as possible, and doesn't delve into over-dramatizations...however, you are reading along about what is happening with a certain person, and all of the sudden you are seeing the story from another person's point of view. And then you realize it is because the other person is now gone. A real person, someone who really experienced this event. And their narration ends, just like that.
I spent a lot of time crying, and I really don't recommend this read to you if you don't have closure yet, or if you don't care to know the technical details of the terrorist attack. I'm not sure it was worth it for me, either.
September 13, 2019
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I was in a corporate supply chain meeting that started at 8:30 with representatives from my company's Silicon Valley headquarters and from other locations around the country. Seated next to me was a big, friendly, blond guy from San Jose, named Marshall, whom I knew pretty well. Sometime before 9AM, as I remember it, someone came in the conference room where we were meeting, and said, "You need to turn on the TV." As news of the plane hitting the North Tower came on the TV, Marshall turned to me, and I'll never forget the look on his face as he said it, "My brother works in the North Tower"; a few moments later, he said, with a calm intensity and a sort of disbelief, "There are almost 50,000 people working in those buildings on a business day".
I went to my desk and called my wife, who was watching the news on CNN, and then I got on the internet to check the news and see what was going on; by then the second tower had been struck. Then I tried to call my wife again, but I got a message saying "All circuits are busy", and then, when I tried to check news again on the internet, the internet was down - there was some sort of message that said in effect, the volume of internet searches had crashed the internet. We all hung around work for another hour or two; a friend I knew who worked high in the Bank of America building in downtown Charlotte called to say the building was being evacuated. The news of the towers falling came on the TV as we watched solemnly. Then I drove home to be with my family.
Everyone of a certain age has these kinds of stories and memories from 9/11. 102 Minutes brings back many memories, and I'm sure many of mine have been supplemented or amplified over the years by watching documentaries. But I do clearly recall the story about Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, who was a serious runner in his free time, climbing up to the 78th floor in record time. I was a runner at the time, and the story of his unbelievable run up those stairs in full equipment to try to get to the fires connected with me because of my understanding of the physical challenge, as much as by my admiration for his bravery and sense of duty. The book's description of Chief Palmer's run toward the fire high in the tower brought back strong emotions for me. But the story of how the building codes had been made more lax in the 1960's to help developers made me angry because of how they manifested themselves on 9/11. Even under the more permissive codes of 1968, the WTC buildings should have withstood fire for at least two hours. Chief Palmer arrived at the 78th floor at 9:52, and he assumed he had at least an hour to organize hoses and try to get the fire under control. If nothing else, he should have had at least another twenty minutes or so to decide (as he probably would have) that subduing a fire that was raging through eight floors of the South Tower was hopeless, so he could have given the order to evacuate the firefighters. But because the fireproofing of the towers was hopelessly inadequate and had never even been tested, the South Tower collapsed only seven minutes after Orio Palmer got to the 78th floor.
The revised building codes of 1968 also reduced the required number of stairwells in skyscrapers, which meant that when the planes swept through the buildings, almost all stairwells were closed off, trapping hundreds of people above the level where the planes impacted. All this is well known, but Dwyer's book delves into why there were half as many stairwells in each tower as there were in the Empire State Building, built in 1931, and why the FDNY could not talk to NYPD officers on their radios, and why firefighters in the buildings could not talk to their own chiefs or each other on their radios. The bravery of individual firefighters and police on 9/11 is unquestioned; I frequently choked up at descriptions of firefighters helping civilians, or running up the stairwells toward the fire. But the leaders in New York City failed those men and women in FDNY and NYPD, and then spun a story about how the firefighters had "knowingly" gone to their deaths trying to save the towers. In fact, almost every responder working in the towers that day believed, because they have been told many times, that the towers could not be brought down by aircraft impacts. To make things worse, the radio communications failures meant that firefighters in the North Tower did not even know, after it fell, that the South Tower had come down, and mayday transmissions to try to get responders out of the remaining tower after 9:59 were almost entirely unheard by the firefighters they were intended for. Mayor Giuliani avoided responsibility for the failures of leadership, procedures, and equipment that led to such problems on 9/11, and lied to Congress about it.
102 Minutes does an excellent job of telling the story of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and it is an emotional story. It also explains the design failures that made the twin towers unsafe when disaster struck, and the training, equipment, and procedural failures that crippled the coordination of the response. One thing that shines through in the book's account is the general civility and decency of the people evacuating the building. In some cases the actions of co-workers helping each other rose to the level of saint-like goodness, as in the case of Abe Zelmanowitz caring for his quadriplegic friend, Ed Beyea. My only quibble with the book is that there are so many names and stories that it makes it a bit difficult to follow all of them. That said, I am happy for the breadth of the book, even if I sometimes struggled to keep track of all the narratives, because there are so many uplifting stories in 102 Minutes of the people of September 11th at the World Trade Center.
I went to my desk and called my wife, who was watching the news on CNN, and then I got on the internet to check the news and see what was going on; by then the second tower had been struck. Then I tried to call my wife again, but I got a message saying "All circuits are busy", and then, when I tried to check news again on the internet, the internet was down - there was some sort of message that said in effect, the volume of internet searches had crashed the internet. We all hung around work for another hour or two; a friend I knew who worked high in the Bank of America building in downtown Charlotte called to say the building was being evacuated. The news of the towers falling came on the TV as we watched solemnly. Then I drove home to be with my family.
Everyone of a certain age has these kinds of stories and memories from 9/11. 102 Minutes brings back many memories, and I'm sure many of mine have been supplemented or amplified over the years by watching documentaries. But I do clearly recall the story about Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, who was a serious runner in his free time, climbing up to the 78th floor in record time. I was a runner at the time, and the story of his unbelievable run up those stairs in full equipment to try to get to the fires connected with me because of my understanding of the physical challenge, as much as by my admiration for his bravery and sense of duty. The book's description of Chief Palmer's run toward the fire high in the tower brought back strong emotions for me. But the story of how the building codes had been made more lax in the 1960's to help developers made me angry because of how they manifested themselves on 9/11. Even under the more permissive codes of 1968, the WTC buildings should have withstood fire for at least two hours. Chief Palmer arrived at the 78th floor at 9:52, and he assumed he had at least an hour to organize hoses and try to get the fire under control. If nothing else, he should have had at least another twenty minutes or so to decide (as he probably would have) that subduing a fire that was raging through eight floors of the South Tower was hopeless, so he could have given the order to evacuate the firefighters. But because the fireproofing of the towers was hopelessly inadequate and had never even been tested, the South Tower collapsed only seven minutes after Orio Palmer got to the 78th floor.
The revised building codes of 1968 also reduced the required number of stairwells in skyscrapers, which meant that when the planes swept through the buildings, almost all stairwells were closed off, trapping hundreds of people above the level where the planes impacted. All this is well known, but Dwyer's book delves into why there were half as many stairwells in each tower as there were in the Empire State Building, built in 1931, and why the FDNY could not talk to NYPD officers on their radios, and why firefighters in the buildings could not talk to their own chiefs or each other on their radios. The bravery of individual firefighters and police on 9/11 is unquestioned; I frequently choked up at descriptions of firefighters helping civilians, or running up the stairwells toward the fire. But the leaders in New York City failed those men and women in FDNY and NYPD, and then spun a story about how the firefighters had "knowingly" gone to their deaths trying to save the towers. In fact, almost every responder working in the towers that day believed, because they have been told many times, that the towers could not be brought down by aircraft impacts. To make things worse, the radio communications failures meant that firefighters in the North Tower did not even know, after it fell, that the South Tower had come down, and mayday transmissions to try to get responders out of the remaining tower after 9:59 were almost entirely unheard by the firefighters they were intended for. Mayor Giuliani avoided responsibility for the failures of leadership, procedures, and equipment that led to such problems on 9/11, and lied to Congress about it.
102 Minutes does an excellent job of telling the story of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and it is an emotional story. It also explains the design failures that made the twin towers unsafe when disaster struck, and the training, equipment, and procedural failures that crippled the coordination of the response. One thing that shines through in the book's account is the general civility and decency of the people evacuating the building. In some cases the actions of co-workers helping each other rose to the level of saint-like goodness, as in the case of Abe Zelmanowitz caring for his quadriplegic friend, Ed Beyea. My only quibble with the book is that there are so many names and stories that it makes it a bit difficult to follow all of them. That said, I am happy for the breadth of the book, even if I sometimes struggled to keep track of all the narratives, because there are so many uplifting stories in 102 Minutes of the people of September 11th at the World Trade Center.
November 17, 2011
I read this book to rekindle my flagging support for our war in Afghanistan (a result of reading War, which tells the story of so many brave men in an impossible area). What better way to refuel my rage than to read about the 102 minutes of terror that emanated from the terrorist refuge in Kandahar. But I came away with a completely different, unexpected result. I come away inspired and humbled by the stories of that day in the towers told in this riveting account. The self-sacrifice and courage of everyday people is truly amazing, a great story about men and women who did what they could to help their friends, co-workers and strangers.
At the start of this book, you are reminded what a normal day it was at first, normal people going to their office or to the restaurant to have breakfast or sitting back in the plane, ready for a long flight. Some of the book deals with the sheer luck and serendipity that determined whether someone got out or not. Some of the book deals with the history of construction and compromises, changes that made the towers less safe. Another theme is the lack of cooperation and, even unhealthy disdain, that existed between the police and the firemen. Many lives could have been saved had there been more cooperation, exercises and coordination between the two services. This book is, in military parlance, an unflinching After-Action Report (AAR) of that day. It is a valuable historical record of a pivot point in history, yet brings it down to a personal level. There is plenty of blame to go around and the authors affix it without a political slant (amazing professionalism from 2 NYT reporters).
I was somewhat hesitant to read this because I thought it would be too intense. We all know many of the stories of that day and a good few are covered here. While the book is intense, it is compelling reading without being too emotional. The stories of $10.00/hour security guards and hotel employees bravely standing their posts or helping with the evacuation are so heartwarming; you can’t help but be proud. We should not gloss over or try to soften the memories of that day; we should celebrate the courage and bravery, not only of the first responders that walked into the conflagration but also of the many individuals who had little or no responsibility to help but did (and many lost their lives doing so).
At the start of this book, you are reminded what a normal day it was at first, normal people going to their office or to the restaurant to have breakfast or sitting back in the plane, ready for a long flight. Some of the book deals with the sheer luck and serendipity that determined whether someone got out or not. Some of the book deals with the history of construction and compromises, changes that made the towers less safe. Another theme is the lack of cooperation and, even unhealthy disdain, that existed between the police and the firemen. Many lives could have been saved had there been more cooperation, exercises and coordination between the two services. This book is, in military parlance, an unflinching After-Action Report (AAR) of that day. It is a valuable historical record of a pivot point in history, yet brings it down to a personal level. There is plenty of blame to go around and the authors affix it without a political slant (amazing professionalism from 2 NYT reporters).
I was somewhat hesitant to read this because I thought it would be too intense. We all know many of the stories of that day and a good few are covered here. While the book is intense, it is compelling reading without being too emotional. The stories of $10.00/hour security guards and hotel employees bravely standing their posts or helping with the evacuation are so heartwarming; you can’t help but be proud. We should not gloss over or try to soften the memories of that day; we should celebrate the courage and bravery, not only of the first responders that walked into the conflagration but also of the many individuals who had little or no responsibility to help but did (and many lost their lives doing so).
November 9, 2012
This was an absolutely amazing book. Not just because of the true-life accounts of many who survived (or, in many cases, didn't), but mostly because the authors pull no punches in telling the story of 9/11/01.
This isn't a book that bashes the government, both local and national, but it does tell both the good and the bad, the positive and the negative. While I was uplifted and encouraged by so many examples of human kindness, I was devastated to read that so very many deaths could have possibly been avoided, if there had just been better communication between political-minded departments.
Also, the fact that so many shortcuts were taken in building the World Trade Center, simply to create more rentable space, shows just how far people will go to make a buck. It saddens me that so many lives might have been saved if there were more staircases, if they had been spread out more, if they had had proper fireproofing.
If you're interested at all in the story that is 9/11, then this is a must-read.
This isn't a book that bashes the government, both local and national, but it does tell both the good and the bad, the positive and the negative. While I was uplifted and encouraged by so many examples of human kindness, I was devastated to read that so very many deaths could have possibly been avoided, if there had just been better communication between political-minded departments.
Also, the fact that so many shortcuts were taken in building the World Trade Center, simply to create more rentable space, shows just how far people will go to make a buck. It saddens me that so many lives might have been saved if there were more staircases, if they had been spread out more, if they had had proper fireproofing.
If you're interested at all in the story that is 9/11, then this is a must-read.
September 23, 2008
7 years after the event, I finally dug within myself to find the courage to read this book. I don't think I WANTED to know what happened inside The Towers...it was just TOO close. I was right about that...I didn't want to know. And yet the tying together of this multitude of perspectives to provide a clear picture of the events of those most devastating 102 minutes in our nation's history was done so skillfully as to present an incredibly clear picture of the events. That being said, I can't say how it would appear to someone unfamiliar with the World Trade Center itself. I can't speak to the images created for someone with no idea of the physical structure and layout of the Twin Towers. Still, I doubt that the intensity and terror of the day would be lost on any reader. 7 years later and I hope for all the survivors that the days are a little more peaceful and the nights a little more restful. And may all the readers learn from this book the importance of taking time each day to express themselves to those they love, so nothing is left a question on their final day.
September 20, 2016
I happened upon this read browsing in the history section for another book. I didn’t have a particular one in mind, just wanted to mix up my reading a bit. I had two others in hand when I saw this one haphazardly shoved into a spot on the shelf and I knew instantly that I had found my next read.
This book is exactly what you think it's about. It’s straight and to the point and it lays out all of the detailed information in a very organized format. I have nothing negative to say about this book and recommend it to anyone that wants to know more. Sorry for keeping it brief, but I don’t feel this is a review where my personal views and reactions to the topic are needed.
This book is exactly what you think it's about. It’s straight and to the point and it lays out all of the detailed information in a very organized format. I have nothing negative to say about this book and recommend it to anyone that wants to know more. Sorry for keeping it brief, but I don’t feel this is a review where my personal views and reactions to the topic are needed.
September 11, 2023
One hundred and two minutes is not much time – an hour and 42 minutes, approximately the length of a typical feature film. Yet it was within that brief span of time on September 11, 2001, that the previously unthinkable happened at the World Trade Center in New York City:
8:46 am (Minute Zero) – A hijacked jet plane strikes the North Tower.
9:02 am (Minute 16) – A second plane strikes the South Tower.
9:59 am (Minute 73) – The South Tower collapses.
10:28 am (Minute 102) – The North Tower collapses.
Other books on 9/11 have sought to engage the larger issues behind the attacks; but 102 Minutes, by Jim Dwyer and Ken Flynn of the New York Times, keeps its focus squarely on the experience of the people who experienced those 102 minutes from within those doomed buildings – when “14,000 men and women fought for life at the World Trade Center” (p. xxi), and 2,749 of them died.
As technical illustrations make frighteningly clear, the manner in which the Twin Towers were constructed in 1973 doomed hundreds of people in those buildings 28 years later, when the 9/11 attacks took place. Stairwells, as permitted by New York City’s building codes in the 1970’s, were clustered together at the center of the building, trapping people above the impact zones. Moreover, early in the rescue effort the fire chiefs in charge at the North Tower “discovered that nearly all the building’s ninety-nine elevators were out of service. Many were stuck between floors with people trapped inside. At least two that had descended to the lobby were shut tight. The people inside were screaming, just a few yards from the fire command desk, but no one could hear them in the din” (p. 50).
Whether one lived or died inside the Twin Towers, it seems, could be a matter of good or bad luck as much as anything else. Characteristic in that regard was the experience of Richard Fern, a systems administrator for Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the South Tower: “If there were lucky breaks to be had, Rich Fern caught every one of them. He had left the east side of the building just before the right wing of [United Airlines] Flight 175 raked across Euro Brokers’ trading desk, most likely killing everyone there instantly. He had gotten on an elevator a moment too late to be trapped in the shaft. And as he scrambled away from the elevator car, he turned to a door. It led to what turned out to be the only intact escape route in either of the two towers” (p. 102).
102 Minutes includes an abundance of individual stories that provide a human dimension to the vast, seemingly incomprehensible tragedy that was 9/11. The story, of these, that was most resonant for me was the story of Ed Beyea and Abe Zelmanowitz, who worked together at Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield on the 27th floor of the North Tower. Beyea had quadriplegia and used a wheelchair, and Zelmanowitz refused to leave Beyea’s side, even though he could easily have walked down 27 floors to safety as most of his co-workers had done. “One firefighter looked at Zelmanowitz as they stood together in the landing for stairway C….‘Why don’t you go?’ the fireman asked. ‘No, I’m staying with my friend,’ he replied” (p. 177).
Dwyer and Flynn also emphasize the heroism of the firefighters and police officers who rushed forward into a scene of absolute chaos and utter panic, trying to save everyone they could, calming frightened civilians with a crisp, courteous “Just doing my job.” For me, the first-responder story that resonated most was that of Battalion Chief Orio J. Palmer, whose courage, professionalism, and dedication to fitness helped him become the first firefighter to reach the South Tower impact zone on the 78th floor. One of the most starkly painful passages from the book, for me, came when Battalion Chief Palmer got his first look at the impact zone:
In radio transmissions, the Fire Department avoids the term “civilians,” referring to them as “10-45’s,” and does not describe anyone as “dead,” but as “Code One.” Then [Palmer] stammered, just slightly, perhaps from exertion, perhaps from what he, the first person from the outside, was seeing. “Radio, radio, radio that – 78th floor, numerous 10-45 Code Ones,” Palmer said. On the 78th floor, he was saying, there were many dead civilians. (p. 206)
A tough-minded epilogue looks into the factors that contributed to the high death toll in the Twin Towers. Acknowledging that “Neither New York nor the United States had any muscle memory of sustained attacks on the homeland”, and that therefore both civilians and first responders were dealing with something radically new, Dwyer and Flynn nonetheless hold that “If history is to be a tool for the living, it must be unflinchingly candid” (pp. 250-51).
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were built in accordance with the building codes of the time, but that did not end up helping the people there on 9/11. “By code, the floors were supposed to be able to withstand fire for two hours. When Chief Orio Palmer and the other firefighters reached people in the crash zone of the south tower, fifty minutes after the plane hit the building, they had every reason to believe there was another hour available for their rescue work. Instead, the tower collapsed seven minutes after they got there” (p. 254).
Problems relating to the way in which the buildings were designed and built, in Dwyer and Flynn’s analysis, were exacerbated by communications difficulties among first responders. “A cascade of lapsed communications…cost lives. The police helicopters reported the deterioriation of the two towers and specifically predicted the collapse of the north tower. The fire commanders had no link to those helicopters or reports….The interagency radios were sitting on shelves and in the trunks of cars, unused” (p. 250).
Such findings remind me of what one can read in The 9/11 Commission Report, and are thoughtfully set forth. Yet what most readers are most likely to take from 102 Minutes, as stated above, is the compelling testimony that Dwyer and Flynn have gathered – civilians and first responders; those who made it out of the Twin Towers, and those who didn’t. This book takes readers back to that terrible day in a powerful and effective way.
8:46 am (Minute Zero) – A hijacked jet plane strikes the North Tower.
9:02 am (Minute 16) – A second plane strikes the South Tower.
9:59 am (Minute 73) – The South Tower collapses.
10:28 am (Minute 102) – The North Tower collapses.
Other books on 9/11 have sought to engage the larger issues behind the attacks; but 102 Minutes, by Jim Dwyer and Ken Flynn of the New York Times, keeps its focus squarely on the experience of the people who experienced those 102 minutes from within those doomed buildings – when “14,000 men and women fought for life at the World Trade Center” (p. xxi), and 2,749 of them died.
As technical illustrations make frighteningly clear, the manner in which the Twin Towers were constructed in 1973 doomed hundreds of people in those buildings 28 years later, when the 9/11 attacks took place. Stairwells, as permitted by New York City’s building codes in the 1970’s, were clustered together at the center of the building, trapping people above the impact zones. Moreover, early in the rescue effort the fire chiefs in charge at the North Tower “discovered that nearly all the building’s ninety-nine elevators were out of service. Many were stuck between floors with people trapped inside. At least two that had descended to the lobby were shut tight. The people inside were screaming, just a few yards from the fire command desk, but no one could hear them in the din” (p. 50).
Whether one lived or died inside the Twin Towers, it seems, could be a matter of good or bad luck as much as anything else. Characteristic in that regard was the experience of Richard Fern, a systems administrator for Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the South Tower: “If there were lucky breaks to be had, Rich Fern caught every one of them. He had left the east side of the building just before the right wing of [United Airlines] Flight 175 raked across Euro Brokers’ trading desk, most likely killing everyone there instantly. He had gotten on an elevator a moment too late to be trapped in the shaft. And as he scrambled away from the elevator car, he turned to a door. It led to what turned out to be the only intact escape route in either of the two towers” (p. 102).
102 Minutes includes an abundance of individual stories that provide a human dimension to the vast, seemingly incomprehensible tragedy that was 9/11. The story, of these, that was most resonant for me was the story of Ed Beyea and Abe Zelmanowitz, who worked together at Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield on the 27th floor of the North Tower. Beyea had quadriplegia and used a wheelchair, and Zelmanowitz refused to leave Beyea’s side, even though he could easily have walked down 27 floors to safety as most of his co-workers had done. “One firefighter looked at Zelmanowitz as they stood together in the landing for stairway C….‘Why don’t you go?’ the fireman asked. ‘No, I’m staying with my friend,’ he replied” (p. 177).
Dwyer and Flynn also emphasize the heroism of the firefighters and police officers who rushed forward into a scene of absolute chaos and utter panic, trying to save everyone they could, calming frightened civilians with a crisp, courteous “Just doing my job.” For me, the first-responder story that resonated most was that of Battalion Chief Orio J. Palmer, whose courage, professionalism, and dedication to fitness helped him become the first firefighter to reach the South Tower impact zone on the 78th floor. One of the most starkly painful passages from the book, for me, came when Battalion Chief Palmer got his first look at the impact zone:
In radio transmissions, the Fire Department avoids the term “civilians,” referring to them as “10-45’s,” and does not describe anyone as “dead,” but as “Code One.” Then [Palmer] stammered, just slightly, perhaps from exertion, perhaps from what he, the first person from the outside, was seeing. “Radio, radio, radio that – 78th floor, numerous 10-45 Code Ones,” Palmer said. On the 78th floor, he was saying, there were many dead civilians. (p. 206)
A tough-minded epilogue looks into the factors that contributed to the high death toll in the Twin Towers. Acknowledging that “Neither New York nor the United States had any muscle memory of sustained attacks on the homeland”, and that therefore both civilians and first responders were dealing with something radically new, Dwyer and Flynn nonetheless hold that “If history is to be a tool for the living, it must be unflinchingly candid” (pp. 250-51).
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were built in accordance with the building codes of the time, but that did not end up helping the people there on 9/11. “By code, the floors were supposed to be able to withstand fire for two hours. When Chief Orio Palmer and the other firefighters reached people in the crash zone of the south tower, fifty minutes after the plane hit the building, they had every reason to believe there was another hour available for their rescue work. Instead, the tower collapsed seven minutes after they got there” (p. 254).
Problems relating to the way in which the buildings were designed and built, in Dwyer and Flynn’s analysis, were exacerbated by communications difficulties among first responders. “A cascade of lapsed communications…cost lives. The police helicopters reported the deterioriation of the two towers and specifically predicted the collapse of the north tower. The fire commanders had no link to those helicopters or reports….The interagency radios were sitting on shelves and in the trunks of cars, unused” (p. 250).
Such findings remind me of what one can read in The 9/11 Commission Report, and are thoughtfully set forth. Yet what most readers are most likely to take from 102 Minutes, as stated above, is the compelling testimony that Dwyer and Flynn have gathered – civilians and first responders; those who made it out of the Twin Towers, and those who didn’t. This book takes readers back to that terrible day in a powerful and effective way.
November 3, 2021
As someone with few memories before the date 9/11/2001, it had always been difficult for me to understand, on more than an intellectual level, the importance of that terrorist attack. That two planes hit the World Trade Center seemed as inevitable as the attack on Pearl Harbor. Indeed, considering the innumerable number of tragedies happening around the world, at any given time, it was not obvious to me why this particular tragedy was so decisive.
I only really understood, on a visceral level, when I finally paid a visit to the museum at Ground Zero. It was a gut-wrenching experience. The exhibit presents the attacks in a timeline, charting the events minute by minute, second by second. Each moment is accompanied by text, audio, and video, making for a kind of total immersion. By the end, I felt the confusion, the terror, and the desperation in my bones, and I have never again wondered why this particular tragedy was so decisive.
The highest praise I can give this book is that it is the closest approximation to visiting the museum that exists in textual form. The authors effectively do what the museum does: weave the individual stories of victims and survivors into a narrative that recaptures the chaos of the event as it unfolded. The research is stellar and the writing is gripping and eloquent.
But the authors do more than just narrate a tragedy. Briefly, but convincingly, they explain why the attack was so deadly. It starts with the design of the twin towers themselves.
They were designed in the late 1960s, shortly after the city’s building codes had been revamped. In the wake of earlier tragedies—most notably, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which occurred just a few blocks from the towers—the city had imposed stringent fire-safety standards: requiring buildings to use masonry, to have a certain number of stairwells, and to space the stairwells apart.
The new building code relaxed all of these measures. As a result, the twin towers had only three stairwells per tower, unprotected by masonry, and all concentrated in the middle of the building—thus making it easy for a single disaster to impede all three at once. Furthermore, the steel beams that held up the structure were protected by a coating of spray-on fireproofing material, whose efficacy was untested. Thus, when the planes hit the building, they cut through all of the stairwells (except for one on the south tower), and the resultant fire melted the exposed steel.
This is not the only shortcoming highlighted by the authors. They also show how a lack of cooperation between the emergency services cost lives. The police, for example, had several helicopters in the air, which gave them advanced warning of the buildings’ collapses. But as they used different radio channels from the fire department, none of this information was available to the firefighters. Indeed, many the firefighters in the north tower remained unaware that the south tower had collapsed, and thus failed to promptly evacuate the other building. What is more, the 911 operators (poorly paid employees of the police department) had little ability to gather real-time information, and thus could offer only generic advice to callers. As a result, many people in upper floors of the south tower were advised to stay put, when there was still an intact stairwell in the building.
This story of myopic building codes and outdated emergency protocols complements the story of inter-departmental distrust that crippled the FBI’s and the CIA’s pursuit of Al-Qaeda, and the story of balkanized air-traffic control that made it difficult to track the hijacked planes or defend against them (Dick Cheney’s shootdown order was, for example, never transmitted to the pilots). One realizes that the terrorists, through a combination of cunning and luck, managed to hit upon a collective blind spot, where the shortcomings of many layers of government coincided—from airport security to architectural codes.
Standing over and against the many examples of official incompetence that came into play that day are the many examples of individual heroism. These pages are full of ordinary people doing their best to help one another in horrifying circumstances. Their bravery and selflessness provided a stark contrast to the wickedness of the attackers and the myopia of the would-be defenders.
I only really understood, on a visceral level, when I finally paid a visit to the museum at Ground Zero. It was a gut-wrenching experience. The exhibit presents the attacks in a timeline, charting the events minute by minute, second by second. Each moment is accompanied by text, audio, and video, making for a kind of total immersion. By the end, I felt the confusion, the terror, and the desperation in my bones, and I have never again wondered why this particular tragedy was so decisive.
The highest praise I can give this book is that it is the closest approximation to visiting the museum that exists in textual form. The authors effectively do what the museum does: weave the individual stories of victims and survivors into a narrative that recaptures the chaos of the event as it unfolded. The research is stellar and the writing is gripping and eloquent.
But the authors do more than just narrate a tragedy. Briefly, but convincingly, they explain why the attack was so deadly. It starts with the design of the twin towers themselves.
They were designed in the late 1960s, shortly after the city’s building codes had been revamped. In the wake of earlier tragedies—most notably, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which occurred just a few blocks from the towers—the city had imposed stringent fire-safety standards: requiring buildings to use masonry, to have a certain number of stairwells, and to space the stairwells apart.
The new building code relaxed all of these measures. As a result, the twin towers had only three stairwells per tower, unprotected by masonry, and all concentrated in the middle of the building—thus making it easy for a single disaster to impede all three at once. Furthermore, the steel beams that held up the structure were protected by a coating of spray-on fireproofing material, whose efficacy was untested. Thus, when the planes hit the building, they cut through all of the stairwells (except for one on the south tower), and the resultant fire melted the exposed steel.
This is not the only shortcoming highlighted by the authors. They also show how a lack of cooperation between the emergency services cost lives. The police, for example, had several helicopters in the air, which gave them advanced warning of the buildings’ collapses. But as they used different radio channels from the fire department, none of this information was available to the firefighters. Indeed, many the firefighters in the north tower remained unaware that the south tower had collapsed, and thus failed to promptly evacuate the other building. What is more, the 911 operators (poorly paid employees of the police department) had little ability to gather real-time information, and thus could offer only generic advice to callers. As a result, many people in upper floors of the south tower were advised to stay put, when there was still an intact stairwell in the building.
This story of myopic building codes and outdated emergency protocols complements the story of inter-departmental distrust that crippled the FBI’s and the CIA’s pursuit of Al-Qaeda, and the story of balkanized air-traffic control that made it difficult to track the hijacked planes or defend against them (Dick Cheney’s shootdown order was, for example, never transmitted to the pilots). One realizes that the terrorists, through a combination of cunning and luck, managed to hit upon a collective blind spot, where the shortcomings of many layers of government coincided—from airport security to architectural codes.
Standing over and against the many examples of official incompetence that came into play that day are the many examples of individual heroism. These pages are full of ordinary people doing their best to help one another in horrifying circumstances. Their bravery and selflessness provided a stark contrast to the wickedness of the attackers and the myopia of the would-be defenders.
March 4, 2012
I hate to trash such an enormous amount of reporting, but facts badly strung together do not improve the result by being more numerous.
The reporters' downfall here was the ill-chosen decision to tell the story of the "102 Minutes" in chronological order. All the jumping around from person to person and tower to tower prevents the development of any personalization, any real emotional impact.
There's some interesting background information on the building of the towers and the development of fire safety laws, and the authors endlessly review, repeat, reiterate the failures of the police and fire departments of NYC to institute any means of interdepartmental communication during a crisis. (Did I mention that the cops and firemen don't like each other? Don't talk to one another? Can't communicate? Did you hear that?)
But other reporters have covered these topics as well, so even these tidbits don't rescue the book.
I can't impune the writers' reporting abilities. They put a ton of work into this book, yet there's barely any background and only the thinnest family and occupational information about any of the dozens of the people who fade in and out of the reporting. The writers really needed an editor to tell them their chronological structural gimmick was going to drain all the energy out of their storytelling.
With all the interviews they did, surely they must have found a few people who could have served as the backbone of their narrative. Selecting a few representative lives and fleshing them out and following them throughout the ordeal would have been a much preferable approach. The chronology could still have been preserved to some extent, both within the separate individuals' stories and by presenting the series of single-thread chronicles in an order that took readers through the crisis more or less in the order things happened.
Yes, there would have been a great deal of chronological overlap, returning, with each shift to a new person, time and again to before the first plane and then ending, well, as needed for each individual.
Perhaps the writers felt this had been done in countless newspaper and magazine and TV pieces about this or that hero or victim. Well, yes, and there's a reason for that. The confusion caused by leaping around among more than 100 different people is thus avoided.
The only justification for the "102 Minutes" structure would have been a book about the towers', well, structure, and how the planes' impact and the subsequent fires led to their collapse, minute by minute, without trying to include the human stories as well. But that's not what this book attempts to do. It wants to tell human stories, but it approaches them like 52 pickup: Dozens of separate individuals' stories jumbled into confusion by the slavish adherence to the minute-by-minute chronology.
I'm giving this book just one star because there have been so many better attempts to capture the horrors and heroism of that day, readers shouldn't waste their time with this one. It's frustrating: All those hundreds of hours of dogged, basic reporting frittered away by poor editing decisions.
The reporters' downfall here was the ill-chosen decision to tell the story of the "102 Minutes" in chronological order. All the jumping around from person to person and tower to tower prevents the development of any personalization, any real emotional impact.
There's some interesting background information on the building of the towers and the development of fire safety laws, and the authors endlessly review, repeat, reiterate the failures of the police and fire departments of NYC to institute any means of interdepartmental communication during a crisis. (Did I mention that the cops and firemen don't like each other? Don't talk to one another? Can't communicate? Did you hear that?)
But other reporters have covered these topics as well, so even these tidbits don't rescue the book.
I can't impune the writers' reporting abilities. They put a ton of work into this book, yet there's barely any background and only the thinnest family and occupational information about any of the dozens of the people who fade in and out of the reporting. The writers really needed an editor to tell them their chronological structural gimmick was going to drain all the energy out of their storytelling.
With all the interviews they did, surely they must have found a few people who could have served as the backbone of their narrative. Selecting a few representative lives and fleshing them out and following them throughout the ordeal would have been a much preferable approach. The chronology could still have been preserved to some extent, both within the separate individuals' stories and by presenting the series of single-thread chronicles in an order that took readers through the crisis more or less in the order things happened.
Yes, there would have been a great deal of chronological overlap, returning, with each shift to a new person, time and again to before the first plane and then ending, well, as needed for each individual.
Perhaps the writers felt this had been done in countless newspaper and magazine and TV pieces about this or that hero or victim. Well, yes, and there's a reason for that. The confusion caused by leaping around among more than 100 different people is thus avoided.
The only justification for the "102 Minutes" structure would have been a book about the towers', well, structure, and how the planes' impact and the subsequent fires led to their collapse, minute by minute, without trying to include the human stories as well. But that's not what this book attempts to do. It wants to tell human stories, but it approaches them like 52 pickup: Dozens of separate individuals' stories jumbled into confusion by the slavish adherence to the minute-by-minute chronology.
I'm giving this book just one star because there have been so many better attempts to capture the horrors and heroism of that day, readers shouldn't waste their time with this one. It's frustrating: All those hundreds of hours of dogged, basic reporting frittered away by poor editing decisions.
September 5, 2015
I'm surprised so many people liked this book as much as they did. I didn't think it was very good, and I can't think of anyone I'd recommend it to. I wonder if people just felt obligated to like it due to the subject matter? Or maybe it just reads so much better than it sounds (on audio CD) but I can't imagine the difference is that drastic.
Anyway, I have two big complaints. The first is that there are a ton of names dropped (which is fine), but they will talk about what a person did for five minutes and then move on to the next part, and then maybe (or not) pick that person's story back up 10 pages, 50 pages, 100 pages later. I can't follow it. You've named like, 300 people. I don't feel like I could share the specific experience of a single person who experienced Sept 11 as a result of having listened to the CD. Which is too bad. I was really hoping to hear more about who these people were who made sacrifices, choices, etc. I think it would have been a lot better if they'd told individuals stories start-to-finish and then moved on to the next.
Also, as many other people have mentioned, the book is very political. It seems to have an agenda in assigning blame to the people/organizations who failed to act. And to a degree, I get that. I get that victims and families of victims probably feel better knowing that - hey, someone is being held accountable for failing to do his job or for making a drastic mistake or for knowingly going against an order that would have made him more effective. However, it leaves the reader with a very uneasy feeling like, "Did I accidentally buy into propaganda when I just wanted to hear the stories of these individuals?"
Lastly, I say that my experience was surely affected by the crap CDs I got from the library, four out of five of which were scratched.
Anyway, I have two big complaints. The first is that there are a ton of names dropped (which is fine), but they will talk about what a person did for five minutes and then move on to the next part, and then maybe (or not) pick that person's story back up 10 pages, 50 pages, 100 pages later. I can't follow it. You've named like, 300 people. I don't feel like I could share the specific experience of a single person who experienced Sept 11 as a result of having listened to the CD. Which is too bad. I was really hoping to hear more about who these people were who made sacrifices, choices, etc. I think it would have been a lot better if they'd told individuals stories start-to-finish and then moved on to the next.
Also, as many other people have mentioned, the book is very political. It seems to have an agenda in assigning blame to the people/organizations who failed to act. And to a degree, I get that. I get that victims and families of victims probably feel better knowing that - hey, someone is being held accountable for failing to do his job or for making a drastic mistake or for knowingly going against an order that would have made him more effective. However, it leaves the reader with a very uneasy feeling like, "Did I accidentally buy into propaganda when I just wanted to hear the stories of these individuals?"
Lastly, I say that my experience was surely affected by the crap CDs I got from the library, four out of five of which were scratched.
September 25, 2009
I'll tell your right off - this is a hard book to read. I've actually been working on it for a couple of weeks, but because of the subject matter was only able to handle so much at a time. The authors did an excellent job of pulling together a multitude of accounts and putting them into the timeline of what happened in the Twin Towers on 9/11. They weren't overly dramatic or graphic, but gave a true to life history of what happened there from the inside out, rather than the outside in. I gained a much greater understanding of what happened that day, especially the *people's stories*, not just the bare facts.
I felt like I needed to read this book, even though it was difficult, because I owed it to those who went through it, if that makes sense. And this only covered a small portion of those who were inside, because we happen to have transcripts or emails or messages or accounts from those they talked to. The majority did not have a voice, but through reading all the other accounts, we can see what they went through as well. It is both heart-wrenching and inspiring.
The only complaint I would make is that I think they put a little too much emphasis on the "fault?" of the builders, the rescuers, etc. and their shortcomings (i.e. building for rentable space rather than safety, very poor communication amongst police/fire etc.) Hindsight is 20/20, and we need to look objectively at what happened there to make sure we're more prepared for something like this in the future. Shortcomings and problems should be fixed, policies adjusted, communication worked out, etc. These are incredibly important points that need to be explored. However the reason this happened was because terrorists hijacked planes and wanted to kill Americans. That is where the true fault lies, and this account spent much more time comparatively on the builders, rescuers, etc. and their "blame" vs. the terrorists who actually caused this to happen. Maybe they just assume the terrorists actions are a given to the reader?
I highly recommend this if the subject matter interests you - it is incredibly informative and gives a first-hand perspective, but be prepared for a tough read.
I felt like I needed to read this book, even though it was difficult, because I owed it to those who went through it, if that makes sense. And this only covered a small portion of those who were inside, because we happen to have transcripts or emails or messages or accounts from those they talked to. The majority did not have a voice, but through reading all the other accounts, we can see what they went through as well. It is both heart-wrenching and inspiring.
The only complaint I would make is that I think they put a little too much emphasis on the "fault?" of the builders, the rescuers, etc. and their shortcomings (i.e. building for rentable space rather than safety, very poor communication amongst police/fire etc.) Hindsight is 20/20, and we need to look objectively at what happened there to make sure we're more prepared for something like this in the future. Shortcomings and problems should be fixed, policies adjusted, communication worked out, etc. These are incredibly important points that need to be explored. However the reason this happened was because terrorists hijacked planes and wanted to kill Americans. That is where the true fault lies, and this account spent much more time comparatively on the builders, rescuers, etc. and their "blame" vs. the terrorists who actually caused this to happen. Maybe they just assume the terrorists actions are a given to the reader?
I highly recommend this if the subject matter interests you - it is incredibly informative and gives a first-hand perspective, but be prepared for a tough read.
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May 3, 2022
Being a) British and b) just a year old when 9/11 happened, it had always seemed sort of abstract to me.
Like yes, of course I know it unleashed the War on Terror and set up all the stuff in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know it's why airport security is so tight, and US border officials so careful. But until I read this book, I don't think I'd really grasped that almost 3000 people died in the middle of one of the world's most iconic cities, in such an awful and devastating way. I'm shocked at the fact that, even though I spent several summers in Manhattan as a teenager when my dad lived there, I never once thought of visiting the 9/11 museum.
This book tells the story of some of the people who were inside the Twin Towers when they were struck. It's not incredibly descriptive - I didn't necessarily feel like I was there - but it's written in a tight, spare style which keeps you hooked all the way through.
I'm visiting New York this summer, and this time I definitely don't plan to let a visit to the museum pass me by.
Like yes, of course I know it unleashed the War on Terror and set up all the stuff in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know it's why airport security is so tight, and US border officials so careful. But until I read this book, I don't think I'd really grasped that almost 3000 people died in the middle of one of the world's most iconic cities, in such an awful and devastating way. I'm shocked at the fact that, even though I spent several summers in Manhattan as a teenager when my dad lived there, I never once thought of visiting the 9/11 museum.
This book tells the story of some of the people who were inside the Twin Towers when they were struck. It's not incredibly descriptive - I didn't necessarily feel like I was there - but it's written in a tight, spare style which keeps you hooked all the way through.
I'm visiting New York this summer, and this time I definitely don't plan to let a visit to the museum pass me by.
September 22, 2016
I read this in commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11. This book was absolutely gut wrenching. It fact it was so emotionally draining that I had to put it down at times to take a breath and remind myself that I was not trapped in a smokey tower, almost two thousand feet off the ground with no means of escape. As I read it felt like I was traveling through the towers as I spent the last moments of people lives with them.
What I take away from this book was no matter how evil the terrorists were and how destructive their act, it was overcome with pure goodness in thousands of ways and by thousands of people. Frank DiMartini and his group were directly responsible for saving 70 people before ultimately losing his life. He could have left the tower with his wife but he kept going up to the impact zone in order to save whoever he could. Abe Zelmanowitz wouldn't leave his paraplegic friend Ed Beyea even though he could have evacuated and saved his own life. Orio Palmer, a firefighter who arrived at the South Tower, fixed an elevator to take him to the 41st floor sky lobby and from there ran up 37 flights of stairs to go into the impact zone. Once there he gave comfort to survivors and directed them to escape routes. Countless first responders who stayed with people they were helping to evacuate even when the news finally came that the towers were in danger of falling. An act of evil on a terrible day overcome with heroism and love, that is what I take away from 9/11.
What I take away from this book was no matter how evil the terrorists were and how destructive their act, it was overcome with pure goodness in thousands of ways and by thousands of people. Frank DiMartini and his group were directly responsible for saving 70 people before ultimately losing his life. He could have left the tower with his wife but he kept going up to the impact zone in order to save whoever he could. Abe Zelmanowitz wouldn't leave his paraplegic friend Ed Beyea even though he could have evacuated and saved his own life. Orio Palmer, a firefighter who arrived at the South Tower, fixed an elevator to take him to the 41st floor sky lobby and from there ran up 37 flights of stairs to go into the impact zone. Once there he gave comfort to survivors and directed them to escape routes. Countless first responders who stayed with people they were helping to evacuate even when the news finally came that the towers were in danger of falling. An act of evil on a terrible day overcome with heroism and love, that is what I take away from 9/11.
September 7, 2025
I read this book in 2005.
A gripping factual account of what happened in that dark day inside the TwinTowers. Never to be forgotten!
A gripping factual account of what happened in that dark day inside the TwinTowers. Never to be forgotten!
September 26, 2022
This was the first book that I read on 9/11. Although it was definitely a compelling read, I soon got bogged down with too many details, especially about the structure of the towers and the building codes. The authors included lots of information on all that. They were extremely thorough, but it soon became rather repetitive.
I loved reading about all the individuals. The self-sacrifice and courage of so many were incredible, but I found it difficult to keep track of all the names. I think that I would have appreciated this more if it was written in a more linear way. All the going back and forth with the different people, never mind the building safety code repetition, made it difficult to read.
Overall, it was very good, but also quite depressing, which I expected it to be. I’m happy that I read it and I learned a lot. Above all, reading it has encouraged me to appreciate and thank God for every day that we have and for all the wonderful blessings that we may sometimes take for granted.
I loved reading about all the individuals. The self-sacrifice and courage of so many were incredible, but I found it difficult to keep track of all the names. I think that I would have appreciated this more if it was written in a more linear way. All the going back and forth with the different people, never mind the building safety code repetition, made it difficult to read.
Overall, it was very good, but also quite depressing, which I expected it to be. I’m happy that I read it and I learned a lot. Above all, reading it has encouraged me to appreciate and thank God for every day that we have and for all the wonderful blessings that we may sometimes take for granted.
August 22, 2018
National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction 2005. It may be seventeen years since 9/11, but the memories of those awful minutes are brought rushing back with Dwyer and Flynn’s excellent recounting of that horrific morning. Never forget.
August 28, 2018
I'm not sure this book is a substitute for the official 9/11 report, but it does have a dignity all its own.
The one-hundred-two minutes referred to are the time between the first plane struck the first of the giant WTC Twin Towers in lower Manhattan on 9-11-2001, and both towers had collapsed. This focus here is as much on institutional fail as individual bravery; pay attention to the actions that political figures, some of them still prominent today, took before and after the disaster. The kind of "inverted pyramid" prose with its short choppy sentences that the authors frequently resort to is more suited to the daily papers they came from than a serious work of history. Still, well worth reading. Interrelationship of details is excellent, and charts and maps outstanding.
Through an accident my prior review of August 24, 2018 was deleted, hence this new posting.
The one-hundred-two minutes referred to are the time between the first plane struck the first of the giant WTC Twin Towers in lower Manhattan on 9-11-2001, and both towers had collapsed. This focus here is as much on institutional fail as individual bravery; pay attention to the actions that political figures, some of them still prominent today, took before and after the disaster. The kind of "inverted pyramid" prose with its short choppy sentences that the authors frequently resort to is more suited to the daily papers they came from than a serious work of history. Still, well worth reading. Interrelationship of details is excellent, and charts and maps outstanding.
Through an accident my prior review of August 24, 2018 was deleted, hence this new posting.
June 22, 2010
It was a Tuesday like any other. I rose after my normal snooze delay, always thankful for a few more minutes of rest, and got ready for work. My daily routine was uneventful. This morning was different, though. Unlike other weekdays the television remained off, freeing me from the usual background chatter of morning news anchors as I dabbed on some mascara and brushed my teeth. I relished the empty house and the total silence. I got in the car, buckled myself in and made a point not to turn on the radio as I embarked on my 45 minute commute into the the office. A few minutes into the ride my cell phone rang, jolting me out of my quiet fog and into a day that would forever live in infamy.
I can't tell you much else about that day except that it was Tuesday, September 11, 2001, and after that jarring phone call asking if I knew what was going on, the silence of the day was instantly shattered. I, along with our nation, was glued to the radio while in the car, in front of the computer at work and the television at home. It seemed that time stood still, or rather, needed to be rewound so that we could understand what was happening. We learned that American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center at 8:42 a.m. Surely it was a pilot error or some kind of horrible mistake. But when 16 minutes later, at 9:02 a.m., United Airlines flight 75 crashed into the South Tower (followed by American Airlines flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. and the crash of United Airlines flight 93 near Shankesville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m.) it was clear this was no accident. This was a calculated, premeditated terrorist attack with aims to do severe and everlasting damage.
I am sure that for many of us the events that immediately unfolded became a blur. New York Times writers Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn bring clarity to the day by recounting every single moment of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center starting at 8:42 a.m. when the first jet crashed into Tower 1, until 10:29 a.m. when the second tower fell. 102 MINUTES: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE FIGHT TO SURVIVE INSIDE THE TWIN TOWERS is a significant body of work in capturing heroic and heartbreaking moments within and around the World Trade Center that fateful day.
Through countless interviews with survivors, families, city, state and federal officials, and research and review of phone and e-mail records, Dwyer and Flynn tell the stories of the day from the voices of the people who lived it, and those who ultimately did not. At just under 4oo pages, readers are exposed to the harrowing events of the crashes and the aftermath of challenges facing the World Trade Center's occupants due to the communication breakdowns between city agencies and the structural issues with the towers themselves.
I was fascinated reading their detailed account of the World Trade Center towers which were massive in their size and reach, yet ill-equipped to sustain the crash of a jumbo jet, despite building plans and agencies that said otherwise. They were built to maximize rentable space over safety, each with only three stairwells for 110 floors, four million square feet of office space and 20,000 occupants (versus the Empire State Building's nine stairwells for 102 floors, 2.25 million square feet and 15,000 occupants). I was baffled that infighting between NYPD, NYFD, NY Port Authority and other rescue agencies trumped necessary disaster recovery training and processes that clearly had a negative impact on the ability to share information. Rescue teams were unable to communicate which stairwells were clear and free for use, or that helicopters needed to be released to rescue tenants on the roof that couldn't descend past the floors consumed with wreckage, or even more crucial... when it was clear for folks to go back upstairs and back to work, to stay put and wait for help or when a total evacuation was necessary.
It's evident there were a number of mistakes attempting to clear out the towers. 102 MINUTES seeks not to point fingers at the failures, but to shed light on opportunities to do differently knowing what we now know. What they uncover through their research is important, vital even. It should be required reading for all of us, but most especially those in positions to impart change in the way we approach disaster and recovery efforts during an attack or high-rise fire.
And despite the harrowing events of September 11, I found myself utterly captivated by this book. My heart swelled reading the stories of humanity and generosity amongst strangers in a window of time--not even two hours!--that was fraught with terror and uncertainty. 2,749 people died in the attacks and 4,400 were injured. Dwyer and Flynn do not claim to have collected all the stories, but they have created an enduring record. As they share in their own words:
No single voice can describe the scenes that unfolded at terrible velocities in so many places. Taken together, though, the words, witnesses, and records provide not only a broad and chilling view of the devastation, but also a singularly revealing window onto acts of grace at a brutal hour.
102 MINUTES encourages us to carry on their legacy--even those we didn't have the pleasure to meet--and to never forget them.
I can't tell you much else about that day except that it was Tuesday, September 11, 2001, and after that jarring phone call asking if I knew what was going on, the silence of the day was instantly shattered. I, along with our nation, was glued to the radio while in the car, in front of the computer at work and the television at home. It seemed that time stood still, or rather, needed to be rewound so that we could understand what was happening. We learned that American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center at 8:42 a.m. Surely it was a pilot error or some kind of horrible mistake. But when 16 minutes later, at 9:02 a.m., United Airlines flight 75 crashed into the South Tower (followed by American Airlines flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. and the crash of United Airlines flight 93 near Shankesville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m.) it was clear this was no accident. This was a calculated, premeditated terrorist attack with aims to do severe and everlasting damage.
I am sure that for many of us the events that immediately unfolded became a blur. New York Times writers Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn bring clarity to the day by recounting every single moment of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center starting at 8:42 a.m. when the first jet crashed into Tower 1, until 10:29 a.m. when the second tower fell. 102 MINUTES: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE FIGHT TO SURVIVE INSIDE THE TWIN TOWERS is a significant body of work in capturing heroic and heartbreaking moments within and around the World Trade Center that fateful day.
Through countless interviews with survivors, families, city, state and federal officials, and research and review of phone and e-mail records, Dwyer and Flynn tell the stories of the day from the voices of the people who lived it, and those who ultimately did not. At just under 4oo pages, readers are exposed to the harrowing events of the crashes and the aftermath of challenges facing the World Trade Center's occupants due to the communication breakdowns between city agencies and the structural issues with the towers themselves.
I was fascinated reading their detailed account of the World Trade Center towers which were massive in their size and reach, yet ill-equipped to sustain the crash of a jumbo jet, despite building plans and agencies that said otherwise. They were built to maximize rentable space over safety, each with only three stairwells for 110 floors, four million square feet of office space and 20,000 occupants (versus the Empire State Building's nine stairwells for 102 floors, 2.25 million square feet and 15,000 occupants). I was baffled that infighting between NYPD, NYFD, NY Port Authority and other rescue agencies trumped necessary disaster recovery training and processes that clearly had a negative impact on the ability to share information. Rescue teams were unable to communicate which stairwells were clear and free for use, or that helicopters needed to be released to rescue tenants on the roof that couldn't descend past the floors consumed with wreckage, or even more crucial... when it was clear for folks to go back upstairs and back to work, to stay put and wait for help or when a total evacuation was necessary.
It's evident there were a number of mistakes attempting to clear out the towers. 102 MINUTES seeks not to point fingers at the failures, but to shed light on opportunities to do differently knowing what we now know. What they uncover through their research is important, vital even. It should be required reading for all of us, but most especially those in positions to impart change in the way we approach disaster and recovery efforts during an attack or high-rise fire.
And despite the harrowing events of September 11, I found myself utterly captivated by this book. My heart swelled reading the stories of humanity and generosity amongst strangers in a window of time--not even two hours!--that was fraught with terror and uncertainty. 2,749 people died in the attacks and 4,400 were injured. Dwyer and Flynn do not claim to have collected all the stories, but they have created an enduring record. As they share in their own words:
No single voice can describe the scenes that unfolded at terrible velocities in so many places. Taken together, though, the words, witnesses, and records provide not only a broad and chilling view of the devastation, but also a singularly revealing window onto acts of grace at a brutal hour.
102 MINUTES encourages us to carry on their legacy--even those we didn't have the pleasure to meet--and to never forget them.
November 16, 2023
This was a very emotional read for me. It is an incredibly well written book which tells the inside story of the people who were fighting to survive inside the north and south towers on that fateful day that if you are of a certain age, you will remember very well. Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn give the reader a lot to think about concerning this harrowing day. There are incredible stories of bravery of the firefighters and the policemen who entered the buildings to save as many people as they could. There are the accounts of the people who were inside the buildings who were looking out for each other or helping complete strangers. There are recorded conversations from people that didn't make it out and the gratitude that those who did show for being able to bear witness of this tragic event. The stories speak for themselves and are the best part of this book.
Dwyer and Flynn also talk in detail about the conversations that people were having regarding the twin towers post 9-11. Why did the towers collapse? Was the building design inefficient? Could the police and firefighters have communicated better on that day? Was there anything that was hindering communication? Were there attempts to rescue the people inside the building by landing aircraft on the towers? I was getting ready to teach my 6th grade class that morning when I heard about the planes striking the World Trade Center. We did have class that day, as the school decided it would be best to give the students as normal of a day as possible. Over the next few weeks, then months I had to limit my news watching because the stories were too upsetting for me. But I knew one day I would want to know the story of what happened in full on that day. This book was published in 2005. I waited until 2013 to read this, but I found what I was looking for, the inside account of what all those people trapped in the towers went through. Be prepared to shed tears. Be prepared to relive those memories if you are old enough to have lived through that day. One of the best non-fiction books that I have ever read.
Dwyer and Flynn also talk in detail about the conversations that people were having regarding the twin towers post 9-11. Why did the towers collapse? Was the building design inefficient? Could the police and firefighters have communicated better on that day? Was there anything that was hindering communication? Were there attempts to rescue the people inside the building by landing aircraft on the towers? I was getting ready to teach my 6th grade class that morning when I heard about the planes striking the World Trade Center. We did have class that day, as the school decided it would be best to give the students as normal of a day as possible. Over the next few weeks, then months I had to limit my news watching because the stories were too upsetting for me. But I knew one day I would want to know the story of what happened in full on that day. This book was published in 2005. I waited until 2013 to read this, but I found what I was looking for, the inside account of what all those people trapped in the towers went through. Be prepared to shed tears. Be prepared to relive those memories if you are old enough to have lived through that day. One of the best non-fiction books that I have ever read.
September 1, 2011
It was just another Tuesday morning. I was just rolling out of bed after sleeping in. I made my way to the tv in the living room before i got myself a bowl of cereal. The today show was just coming back from commercial break and I heard Katie Couric's voice saying that what was being displayed on the tv screen was a live shot of what appears to be a small aircraft had just hit one of the Twin Towers.
I looked and stopped pouring my breakfast out. I sat on the sofa and was looking at smoke pouring out of the tower along with burts of fire. I watched for the next few minutes and then grabbed the phone next to me to call my then boyfriend who was a volunteer fire chief/paramedic in our county in New Jersey. He answered and I said he was missing the action in NYC right now as a plane had hit one of the twin towers. He said he was on his way home from a call right that very moment.
I continued to watch the tv news and then I heard his truck pull up. At the same exact time I was watching, live on tv the SECOND plane to hit the other twin tower. I just froze. How could the pilot not see the smoke or the tower it's self. Was there something wrong with the flight routes or something. Surely something had to be wrong. Then my boyfriend came walking in and took one look at my face, glued to the tv and he walked over and said "Jesus Christ!" He sat down. We watched for a few more minutes and then he said what some of the reporters where saying on tv. "We're going to WAR over this!"
That was just shy of ten years ago. I came across this book in the library and decided I would give it a look over, since it was coming up on the 10th anniversary. This book gave me chills, goosebumps and a sleepless night. Ever since watching the events of 9/11 live on the tv, I can't look at a picture of the Twin Towers with out shivering. This book is very powerful and moving. A must read to anyone wanting more information or just to see what it really was like.
I looked and stopped pouring my breakfast out. I sat on the sofa and was looking at smoke pouring out of the tower along with burts of fire. I watched for the next few minutes and then grabbed the phone next to me to call my then boyfriend who was a volunteer fire chief/paramedic in our county in New Jersey. He answered and I said he was missing the action in NYC right now as a plane had hit one of the twin towers. He said he was on his way home from a call right that very moment.
I continued to watch the tv news and then I heard his truck pull up. At the same exact time I was watching, live on tv the SECOND plane to hit the other twin tower. I just froze. How could the pilot not see the smoke or the tower it's self. Was there something wrong with the flight routes or something. Surely something had to be wrong. Then my boyfriend came walking in and took one look at my face, glued to the tv and he walked over and said "Jesus Christ!" He sat down. We watched for a few more minutes and then he said what some of the reporters where saying on tv. "We're going to WAR over this!"
That was just shy of ten years ago. I came across this book in the library and decided I would give it a look over, since it was coming up on the 10th anniversary. This book gave me chills, goosebumps and a sleepless night. Ever since watching the events of 9/11 live on the tv, I can't look at a picture of the Twin Towers with out shivering. This book is very powerful and moving. A must read to anyone wanting more information or just to see what it really was like.
September 29, 2021
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_T...
(has many of them, but not all, including showing up in Duran Duran’s “Do You Believe In Shame?” video. Youtube has some examples of appearances, at least in movies)
music – (before 1993) David Shire - “Manhattan Skyline” (from Saturday Night Fever soundtrack)
(during, 2001) Tim Hecker - “The Piano Drop”
(after) Bruce Springsteen - “You're Missing” / Tears For Fears - “Start Of A Breakdown”
Personal travel diary entry: 2nd of March, 1992 (in New York) – a little under a year before the 1993 bomb attack:
"...we went to the WTC and up to 107th floor's viewing place [Top Of The World observation deck, South Tower]. Great view, looked for the place Ramones came from [bought a badge - “I live in the past, the rent is cheaper”. My sister got a name plate which shows it's from WTC - now stuck on the door of her former room at my parents’.]. Mother felt a bit dizzy.
Then we went to another building - I think it was the Financial Center - and there to a café.…"
Gripping. One of those books that was so much like that that I had to take it with me when I left home to visit my parents, just so that I could keep reading…
The 102 minutes is the time between the hit of the first plane and the fall of the last tower standing (I was a bit surprised that though South one was hit last, it was the first to go, but when you look at the picture of the plane angle as it hit it (bigger tilt), I’m now less surprised). The writers did hundreds of interviews, got pages of oral history, transcripts of phone, email, and emergency radio messages. At the start there is a list of illustrations within the book, the list of 367 people at WTC who are mentioned in text (and not all survive: at the end is the list of 131 who didn’t – I kept a bookmark in there to see who in the text was not going to make it). My book is the one with 10th Anniversary postscript; there are also notes on sources and some further facts.
This story is from the perspective of the people inside, and also of some outside the buildings (like 911 phone workers): those who worked there – already in the building or just-arriving, visitors that morning, the rescuers (on the ground and in the helicopters). I learned a lot about the building of it all, the buildings, and what sort of influence the 1993 had for the buildings and the people in them (for some, this was a life-saving thing).
Both impacts created earth-shaking power, and again when they came down. Those in North Tower above the impact line (92nd and up) stood pretty much no chance of getting out – the chilling moment when the book says: ‘this was the last elevator out of the Windows Of The World, ever’. In the South Tower, stair A remained open, but not all knew or could go to it. First people (of the about 200) started to fall after 2 minutes from the first hit (most fallers are from the North one); the book really gives a view into the desperation the people on smoky, fiery floors had, including some phone/email transcripts.
What things helped or hindered people’s survival? Some things could be both: disability or health problem didn’t always mean being stuck up there (most elevators had stopped working, and escape was stairs-only). I could count at least four people with this problem who did make it out (blind, in a wheelchair, overweight, fallen foot arches). Also, announcements and direct commands or comments: sometimes obeying saved, sometimes it was better to ignore it (like, going back upstairs or towards the roof). And then there were the many elevators: being stuck in one was deadly but not always impossible to eventually escape from. Sometime stepping in or out of one, while its doors were still open, could save your life.
The time when the people left the building after the first hit – leaving in both buildings – mattered. Some left really soon - as soon as they learned about the first crash even - in the South tower. Some workplaces had a really good emergency plan that made people leave soon (while in others it wasn’t so). Other people’s insistence and help could save lives, especially of those who were stuck in some places. Even a squeegee in a bucket could save lives, helping people get out of a stopped elevator, through bathroom tiles, and out.
Then the hindrances: Of course, sometimes you were in an area where escape routes were blocked thanks to the plane coming through and cutting out any chances of using elevators or stairs. Deciding to stay put and wait for the helpers could also doom you, especially in the South Tower. Obeying the commands to go back to your workplace could also do that, or deciding to go back to get your bag with your child’s baby pictures, or to get your friend/relative… or going back in and up there to help a friend who had called you with a (smaller) problem. Jammed office doors, or pieces of marble pinning you down could also do it. Falling debris could smack you dead.
And going up for the roof was a mistake. No one inside knew it wasn’t an option: the smoke made rescue impossible (and the window-washing machine had stopped in the exactly right place to block the way). And the doors were locked… to keep ‘disturbed’ people out. And the right key/card couldn’t help because the last door had to be unlocked from another place in the building below – and both crashes cut the lines for doing that, among other things cut and made unusable.
There were other failures, too: the fire and police departments had a rivalry that kept communications poor, coordination flawed, and command power low. (Poor communication between FBI and CIA also mattered in failure to prevent, but that’s another story – that improved in later years.) It was pretty much impossible to put the fire out so far up, so the main action was rescuing, which sent some men into their dooms, especially since they needed to rest often with what heavy tools etc. they were carrying. Coordinated disaster drills had been too few. Radio communications didn’t work well enough.
(Wondering: what would we be able to see if this event had happened during today’s selection of technology to record it, or to communicate with others?)
And the building itself was not built for total evacuation. The changes to the 1938 building evacuation system made building cheaper but decreased safety features, like evacuation stairways (who also were bunched too close together), and more vulnerable fireproofing (foam that was dislodged enough to allow metal melt and bend too much). Plus the planes that could fly at the building got larger than the planners could imagine, over time, making the planes’ ability to melt metal much quicker… and so cause the collapse of the buildings. All the fuel in the planes, still on the first moments of their journeys...
And slowly going on towards the moment of collapse(s): first worry was about the elevators, but collapse fear grew, and messages of melting and caving floors started making this reader’s hair raise up (and realise what that melting could cause). And when the South tower went down, the energy release was 1% of a nuclear bomb, showing up on seismograph in Lisbon, Portugal… the North tower’s collapse starts with ‘leaning’… eek. I could almost hear the noise.
Epilogue, afterword, and the newer postscript end the book well: talking about the rescue after, the disputes, the effects in later years (health concerns, people joining the military, helping people after hurricane Katrina), and the finding and killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
I have seen a few films and documentaries on 9/11 (including the recent (2021) one), this one adds something more to my knowledge, and it was so worth it. So much sadness, horror (the injuries, the elevator people, the desperation of people being stuck on the top floors), and mistakes... and yet also people helping each other, moments of bravery, and connections lasting beyond that day. It is a very gripping, hard to put down story - firm on facts yet telling stories of people trying to get through it. It really moves you.
(has many of them, but not all, including showing up in Duran Duran’s “Do You Believe In Shame?” video. Youtube has some examples of appearances, at least in movies)
music – (before 1993) David Shire - “Manhattan Skyline” (from Saturday Night Fever soundtrack)
(during, 2001) Tim Hecker - “The Piano Drop”
(after) Bruce Springsteen - “You're Missing” / Tears For Fears - “Start Of A Breakdown”
Personal travel diary entry: 2nd of March, 1992 (in New York) – a little under a year before the 1993 bomb attack:
"...we went to the WTC and up to 107th floor's viewing place [Top Of The World observation deck, South Tower]. Great view, looked for the place Ramones came from [bought a badge - “I live in the past, the rent is cheaper”. My sister got a name plate which shows it's from WTC - now stuck on the door of her former room at my parents’.]. Mother felt a bit dizzy.
Then we went to another building - I think it was the Financial Center - and there to a café.…"
Gripping. One of those books that was so much like that that I had to take it with me when I left home to visit my parents, just so that I could keep reading…
The 102 minutes is the time between the hit of the first plane and the fall of the last tower standing (I was a bit surprised that though South one was hit last, it was the first to go, but when you look at the picture of the plane angle as it hit it (bigger tilt), I’m now less surprised). The writers did hundreds of interviews, got pages of oral history, transcripts of phone, email, and emergency radio messages. At the start there is a list of illustrations within the book, the list of 367 people at WTC who are mentioned in text (and not all survive: at the end is the list of 131 who didn’t – I kept a bookmark in there to see who in the text was not going to make it). My book is the one with 10th Anniversary postscript; there are also notes on sources and some further facts.
This story is from the perspective of the people inside, and also of some outside the buildings (like 911 phone workers): those who worked there – already in the building or just-arriving, visitors that morning, the rescuers (on the ground and in the helicopters). I learned a lot about the building of it all, the buildings, and what sort of influence the 1993 had for the buildings and the people in them (for some, this was a life-saving thing).
Both impacts created earth-shaking power, and again when they came down. Those in North Tower above the impact line (92nd and up) stood pretty much no chance of getting out – the chilling moment when the book says: ‘this was the last elevator out of the Windows Of The World, ever’. In the South Tower, stair A remained open, but not all knew or could go to it. First people (of the about 200) started to fall after 2 minutes from the first hit (most fallers are from the North one); the book really gives a view into the desperation the people on smoky, fiery floors had, including some phone/email transcripts.
What things helped or hindered people’s survival? Some things could be both: disability or health problem didn’t always mean being stuck up there (most elevators had stopped working, and escape was stairs-only). I could count at least four people with this problem who did make it out (blind, in a wheelchair, overweight, fallen foot arches). Also, announcements and direct commands or comments: sometimes obeying saved, sometimes it was better to ignore it (like, going back upstairs or towards the roof). And then there were the many elevators: being stuck in one was deadly but not always impossible to eventually escape from. Sometime stepping in or out of one, while its doors were still open, could save your life.
The time when the people left the building after the first hit – leaving in both buildings – mattered. Some left really soon - as soon as they learned about the first crash even - in the South tower. Some workplaces had a really good emergency plan that made people leave soon (while in others it wasn’t so). Other people’s insistence and help could save lives, especially of those who were stuck in some places. Even a squeegee in a bucket could save lives, helping people get out of a stopped elevator, through bathroom tiles, and out.
Then the hindrances: Of course, sometimes you were in an area where escape routes were blocked thanks to the plane coming through and cutting out any chances of using elevators or stairs. Deciding to stay put and wait for the helpers could also doom you, especially in the South Tower. Obeying the commands to go back to your workplace could also do that, or deciding to go back to get your bag with your child’s baby pictures, or to get your friend/relative… or going back in and up there to help a friend who had called you with a (smaller) problem. Jammed office doors, or pieces of marble pinning you down could also do it. Falling debris could smack you dead.
And going up for the roof was a mistake. No one inside knew it wasn’t an option: the smoke made rescue impossible (and the window-washing machine had stopped in the exactly right place to block the way). And the doors were locked… to keep ‘disturbed’ people out. And the right key/card couldn’t help because the last door had to be unlocked from another place in the building below – and both crashes cut the lines for doing that, among other things cut and made unusable.
There were other failures, too: the fire and police departments had a rivalry that kept communications poor, coordination flawed, and command power low. (Poor communication between FBI and CIA also mattered in failure to prevent, but that’s another story – that improved in later years.) It was pretty much impossible to put the fire out so far up, so the main action was rescuing, which sent some men into their dooms, especially since they needed to rest often with what heavy tools etc. they were carrying. Coordinated disaster drills had been too few. Radio communications didn’t work well enough.
(Wondering: what would we be able to see if this event had happened during today’s selection of technology to record it, or to communicate with others?)
And the building itself was not built for total evacuation. The changes to the 1938 building evacuation system made building cheaper but decreased safety features, like evacuation stairways (who also were bunched too close together), and more vulnerable fireproofing (foam that was dislodged enough to allow metal melt and bend too much). Plus the planes that could fly at the building got larger than the planners could imagine, over time, making the planes’ ability to melt metal much quicker… and so cause the collapse of the buildings. All the fuel in the planes, still on the first moments of their journeys...
And slowly going on towards the moment of collapse(s): first worry was about the elevators, but collapse fear grew, and messages of melting and caving floors started making this reader’s hair raise up (and realise what that melting could cause). And when the South tower went down, the energy release was 1% of a nuclear bomb, showing up on seismograph in Lisbon, Portugal… the North tower’s collapse starts with ‘leaning’… eek. I could almost hear the noise.
Epilogue, afterword, and the newer postscript end the book well: talking about the rescue after, the disputes, the effects in later years (health concerns, people joining the military, helping people after hurricane Katrina), and the finding and killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
I have seen a few films and documentaries on 9/11 (including the recent (2021) one), this one adds something more to my knowledge, and it was so worth it. So much sadness, horror (the injuries, the elevator people, the desperation of people being stuck on the top floors), and mistakes... and yet also people helping each other, moments of bravery, and connections lasting beyond that day. It is a very gripping, hard to put down story - firm on facts yet telling stories of people trying to get through it. It really moves you.
November 19, 2019
Compelling account of those who survive and some of those who don’t. The authors make a case for how many more could have survived if the Port Authority had followed the revised building code of 1968 and included four stairways instead of three. The reduction of that lone stairway increased real estate (revenue) but forgot the lessons learned in the early years of the twentieth century when so many young women had also gone to the windows of a building two miles south of the Trade Center to escape the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. The book did not mention how many people jumped, only that they did and some even became lethal missiles to those on the ground, including at least one rescue person.
A sobering book, well-written. A-political.
A sobering book, well-written. A-political.
June 21, 2019
I feel like I better understand 9/11 from the inside- out instead of the outside- in, watching it stunned on my TV. A good timeline of what happened and a snapshot of the experience of various people from inside the two towers. I'm glad some time passed before this was published. A pretty honest account of what went wrong and why. I must admit I still felt stressed and emotional hoping for a different ending, but it's good to be reminded. Four and a half broken heart stars
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