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WE'RE NOT LEAVING, 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice and Renewal
We’re Not Leaving is a compilation of powerful first-person narratives told from the vantage point of World Trade Center disaster workers—police officers, firefighters, construction workers, and other volunteers at the site. While the effects of 9/11 on these everyday heroes and heroines are indelible, and in some cases have been devastating, at the heart of their deeply personal stories—their harrowing escapes from the falling Towers, the egregious environment they worked in for months, the alarming health effects they continue to deal with—is their witness to their personal strength and renewal in the ten years since.These stories, shared by ordinary people who responded to disaster and devastation in extraordinary ways, remind us of America’s strength and inspire us to recognize and ultimately believe in our shared values of courage, duty, patriotism, self-sacrifice, and devotion, which guide us in dark times. The books author, Benjamin Luft, M.D., a Professor of Medicine at SUNY Stony Brook is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of Lyme disease and AIDS-related conditions. As a native New Yorker he was deeply impacted by the 9/11 attacks and was inspired to establish the Long Island World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, which provides care to more than 6,000 disaster responders and has become an incubator for several important research and treatment programs that emphasize both mental and physical well-being.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 6, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 3, 2013
This coming September will mark twelve years since 9/11. We forget a lot as time goes by. This book is a series of oral histories from those who were there: policemen, firemen, ironworkers, medical personnel, chaplains, mental health counselors. Most of these people not only observed the entire disaster unfolding but spent months--until May 2002--to tear it down and to look for remains. Some were volunteers but many were city personnel assigned to work there in 12-hour shifts.
Two haunting themes repeat themselves in most of the stories: emotional and mental trauma in the form of PTSD and serious physical illness from breathing the toxic air for months. The statistics are alarming--an incredibly high number of suicides among NYPD officers in the past twelve years and unusually large numbers of persons who had worked in the area dying of cancer or suffering severe lung damage.
I had no idea that so many people are in such dire straits right now due to their association with 9/11. Many are angry and yet still loyal to this country. These oral histories are unforgettable and left me with a sense of awe at the courage and moral fortitude of those who tell their stories. I felt that I learned a lot more about what really happened on September 11th and the months following than I had ever heard reported.
Two haunting themes repeat themselves in most of the stories: emotional and mental trauma in the form of PTSD and serious physical illness from breathing the toxic air for months. The statistics are alarming--an incredibly high number of suicides among NYPD officers in the past twelve years and unusually large numbers of persons who had worked in the area dying of cancer or suffering severe lung damage.
I had no idea that so many people are in such dire straits right now due to their association with 9/11. Many are angry and yet still loyal to this country. These oral histories are unforgettable and left me with a sense of awe at the courage and moral fortitude of those who tell their stories. I felt that I learned a lot more about what really happened on September 11th and the months following than I had ever heard reported.
September 17, 2011
It is easy to forget the enormity of what happened on 9/11. I remember being at work and slowly congregating in the conference room with my coworkers watching the events unfold on the big screen. It seemed unreal at the time, especially when the second plane hit. For me 9/11 was something that happened on television; consequently it never felt quite real to me. It is easy to forget what really transpired that day. And if that happens to me, someone who was 32 at the time, it is a tragedy. Multiply me by thousands and we have another national tragedy developing.
At the end of the day I think books like this one should be required reading for all Americans, so we never forget what happened. To all those innocent people who died that day just going about their life, to the first responders who died trying to save people, and to the numerous first responders who continue to this day to suffer and die directly as a result of 9/11.
This book delves into this last group, probably the most forgotten group of all those affected by 9/11. It tells the stories of those whose jobs took them to ground zero on September 11th, and kept them their over the ensuing weeks, months and years. The enormity of their efforts and sacrifices has been ignored, and if we let it, will be lost.
Imagine the long term effects, both physically and mentally, of spending months searching a burning pile of metal and mortar for the pulverized bodies of almost 3000 individuals while breathing in 3 inches of dust the whole time. To a person, everyone of the 33 responders (or spouse) say they all would do it again, but through their stories they explain what a truly devastating nightmare 9/11 was. It is their own experiences and it makes 9/11 real, not just some television show you saw 10 years ago.
This is not an easy book to read, but I feel we all should. In the end it showed to me that even through the worst tragedy imaginable, America came together. We sacrificed for each other, some more than others, and we got the job done. If we forget and drift apart, lose our national identity, then the evil of 9/11 has succeeded. This is an important book.
Thanks David for the review for Book Him Danno
At the end of the day I think books like this one should be required reading for all Americans, so we never forget what happened. To all those innocent people who died that day just going about their life, to the first responders who died trying to save people, and to the numerous first responders who continue to this day to suffer and die directly as a result of 9/11.
This book delves into this last group, probably the most forgotten group of all those affected by 9/11. It tells the stories of those whose jobs took them to ground zero on September 11th, and kept them their over the ensuing weeks, months and years. The enormity of their efforts and sacrifices has been ignored, and if we let it, will be lost.
Imagine the long term effects, both physically and mentally, of spending months searching a burning pile of metal and mortar for the pulverized bodies of almost 3000 individuals while breathing in 3 inches of dust the whole time. To a person, everyone of the 33 responders (or spouse) say they all would do it again, but through their stories they explain what a truly devastating nightmare 9/11 was. It is their own experiences and it makes 9/11 real, not just some television show you saw 10 years ago.
This is not an easy book to read, but I feel we all should. In the end it showed to me that even through the worst tragedy imaginable, America came together. We sacrificed for each other, some more than others, and we got the job done. If we forget and drift apart, lose our national identity, then the evil of 9/11 has succeeded. This is an important book.
Thanks David for the review for Book Him Danno
August 25, 2024
We're Not Leaving is a book about the responders of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, published in 2011 in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of the attacks. It is a collection of oral histories in which the author, Benjamin Luft, presents edited versions of the experiences of people who responded to the towers being hit by the planes and those who participated in the rescue and recovery/cleanup operation afterward.
The softcover version of the book is just under 300 pages. Once you start, it is both hard to read and hard to put down. It is one of the most harrowing and emotional books about 9/11 that I have read. The emotion that the people being interviewed conveyed was palpable, and for many, it had not faded even after nearly a decade. The book is solely devoted to the responders in New York. It does not include interviews with responders at The Pentagon or in Shanksville, PA. Ultimately, it is a must-read book that conveys the horrors and the heroism of 9/11 and the days and months after as the city tried to recover from the attack and the devastation that resulted from it.
The softcover version of the book is just under 300 pages. Once you start, it is both hard to read and hard to put down. It is one of the most harrowing and emotional books about 9/11 that I have read. The emotion that the people being interviewed conveyed was palpable, and for many, it had not faded even after nearly a decade. The book is solely devoted to the responders in New York. It does not include interviews with responders at The Pentagon or in Shanksville, PA. Ultimately, it is a must-read book that conveys the horrors and the heroism of 9/11 and the days and months after as the city tried to recover from the attack and the devastation that resulted from it.
October 17, 2023
let's talk about what Beth (Elizabeth 'cause know one calls me that. lol!!) i recall where i was ...i was working at a florist at the time (at the time it was where i was meant to be, but thank God i am not there now. don't miss any one ...they were some interesting folks to work with ...well i guess i miss the delivery drivers but that is about it. any who) ... and i just couldn't get ...why the news was so on this ... like it became all we thought bout. i wish to say ...that i don't enjoy the news folks ...i don't get why it is so important ... i mean i thank the folks who worked and did their work ... but i don't get why folks rushed into the stuff (news people i mean here) to put themselves in harms, when you feel that their intentions were to get the story. i guess i can some what understand, but for folks who had to be there to be in harms way, but i feel the fire men and ladies were so (not sure what word to use here) 'cause i am not sure why fire and rescue folks do it but i am so thankful they do. but i don't think i could ever run into a building to save someone, never been in the position (that doesn't look spelled correctly? sorry google is being silly.) but i am so thankful. hope that make sense. now that i am 45 ...watching it all happen. i am not understanding why so much was kept from the public (why i dislike the news so much, they share what they think is important, not what we individually wish to hear or wanna know and today it is even worse) ...the stories and now ...it was laid out in the YouTube videos i have seen nowadays ... it was only recently in the year of 2023 that i learned so much more and i hope to see the New York museum. i know it would be hard ...but i think it is something i need and wish to do. i can only imagine the life, the daily life and all that folks who were there and dealt with it all have or do continue on without their friends, cohorts, family members, all who miss the ones gone. i know so many of them say that those folks whom we lost (i know i didn't personally lose someone, but i feel that where my American family, so we all did lose many persons, & how someone could take those folks in such a horrible not in my mind easily able to understand, i think i have watched different videos just blown away by it. as a kid i think it was the early 90's i went on a trip to New York and have many pics from Central Park with the twin towers there in the background, i can't imagine them gone. to see what happen is just without words to see it, know they are gone ... to see how it all went down ... i guess i wish to say ... i am well there is no word i feel ...to get it across ...but i am thankful seems like a not good word, but for the folks who have the stories to tell ...so we can sort of try to get what it was like to understand their stories of how it happened and what they went through, but i think how can they keep going and deal with the grief, stress, PTSD, and live their lives daily. i wonder if having the 9/11 memorials, does it help them, i wonder if the things we do help them ... does bring it up every year good for them. do we ask them? hope that make sense. WE WILL NEVER FORGET, it is and will for me i think of them every day. how? each day there are 2 times 9:11 AM & PM, i think of them. so forgetting is never a thing to do. but have you watch the YouTube video of them interviewing the kids of the certain folks who were killed? that is a hard video to watch ... kids who if they knew their mom or dad who are not gone, where they super young or maybe middle school at the time, now they are thinking of all the moments will miss their parents, can't imagine) so in one of those videos i saw this was a book that was available to read, so i got it from Amazon. real book form. not kindle. and i will give it on ... pass it onto others ... my way of keeping the memory of them alive ... for folks who also might wish to know more ...
but as i always say ... will my words mean what i wish them to ... i hope so. we pray. we remember. and we hope that those ones left behind will hold up their families and friends who were lost and feel peace ... peace ... hold to the good memories. whatever brings them comfort and peace.
but as i always say ... will my words mean what i wish them to ... i hope so. we pray. we remember. and we hope that those ones left behind will hold up their families and friends who were lost and feel peace ... peace ... hold to the good memories. whatever brings them comfort and peace.
December 9, 2020
Great first hand accounts of various aspects of 9/11 and the aftermath. Even though conditions were horrible, and many responders suffered life-long or life-ending injuries, they all said they would do it again. Great companion book to 9/12 - The Epic Battle of the Ground Zero Responders about their subsequent illnesses and difficulty in getting health care.
May 25, 2020
Recommended cry-yourself-to-sleep reading.
October 13, 2020
couldn't put down
September 11, 2011
It is easy to forget the enormity of what happened on 9/11. I remember being at work and slowly congregating in the conference room with my coworkers watching the events unfold on the big screen. It seemed unreal at the time, especially when the second plane hit. For me 9/11 was something that happened on television; consequently it never felt quite real to me. It is easy to forget what really transpired that day. And if that happens to me, someone who was 32 at the time, it is a tragedy. Multiply me by thousands and we have another national tragedy developing.
At the end of the day I think books like this one should be required reading for all Americans, so we never forget what happened. To all those innocent people who died that day just going about their life, to the first responders who died trying to save people, and to the numerous first responders who continue to this day to suffer and die directly as a result of 9/11.
This book delves into this last group, probably the most forgotten group of all those affected by 9/11. It tells the stories of those whose jobs took them to ground zero on September 11th, and kept them their over the ensuing weeks, months and years. The enormity of their efforts and sacrifices has been ignored, and if we let it, will be lost.
Imagine the long term effects, both physically and mentally, of spending months searching a burning pile of metal and mortar for the pulverized bodies of almost 3000 individuals while breathing in 3 inches of dust the whole time. To a person, everyone of the 33 responders (or spouse) say they all would do it again, but through their stories they explain what a truly devastating nightmare 9/11 was. It is their own experiences and it makes 9/11 real, not just some television show you saw 10 years ago.
This is not an easy book to read, but I feel we all should. In the end it showed to me that even through the worst tragedy imaginable, America came together. We sacrificed for each other, some more than others, and we got the job done. If we forget and drift apart, lose our national identity, then the evil of 9/11 has succeeded. This is an important book.
At the end of the day I think books like this one should be required reading for all Americans, so we never forget what happened. To all those innocent people who died that day just going about their life, to the first responders who died trying to save people, and to the numerous first responders who continue to this day to suffer and die directly as a result of 9/11.
This book delves into this last group, probably the most forgotten group of all those affected by 9/11. It tells the stories of those whose jobs took them to ground zero on September 11th, and kept them their over the ensuing weeks, months and years. The enormity of their efforts and sacrifices has been ignored, and if we let it, will be lost.
Imagine the long term effects, both physically and mentally, of spending months searching a burning pile of metal and mortar for the pulverized bodies of almost 3000 individuals while breathing in 3 inches of dust the whole time. To a person, everyone of the 33 responders (or spouse) say they all would do it again, but through their stories they explain what a truly devastating nightmare 9/11 was. It is their own experiences and it makes 9/11 real, not just some television show you saw 10 years ago.
This is not an easy book to read, but I feel we all should. In the end it showed to me that even through the worst tragedy imaginable, America came together. We sacrificed for each other, some more than others, and we got the job done. If we forget and drift apart, lose our national identity, then the evil of 9/11 has succeeded. This is an important book.
November 3, 2016
i don't know what i was expecting but this book was better than whatever it was. it wasn't overtly dramatic or tearjerking but just true feeling. it is all transcriptions from interviews with responders to 9/11 - well after the fact in most cases, & you just get a very real sense of how surreal it was, how hard, how isolating, and how it is still having an impact - and how that impact is happening for better or worse. i couldn't bring myself to overload on the stories at the time. i even had a hard time looking at pictures. but this kind of storytelling i can really relate to and it makes me feel a small amount of understanding for the day, the weeks following, and now the aftermath and legacy of this event. as i am a new yorker but wasn't there myself. i would highly recommend reading it though whether or not you live here or know people or not, it is just a great collection that will help you understand what happened - and is still happening. (but be forewarned it does cover things explicitly / not everything is positive so if you're looking for that whitewash don't look here.)
September 28, 2015
This book told a much bigger picture of what happened on 9/11, for years after and gave insight as to effects of 9/11 today. What we saw on the news, only gave a little glimpse of this tragedy. The first person narratives of some of the responders experiences were often harrowing. Some of the events are what you would see in an action movie, that you might say, after watching the movie, was an exaggeration. These truths were no exaggeration. Unbelievable stories of heart ache, loss, grief, illness, devastation, and pain that brought people to their knees.
After going to New York over the summer of 2015 and visiting ground zero I'm glad to have purchased this book at the preview memorial store to help support those who were afflicted.
After going to New York over the summer of 2015 and visiting ground zero I'm glad to have purchased this book at the preview memorial store to help support those who were afflicted.
September 8, 2011
read this review and others at http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews