After Ground Zero: Everyday Americans and the Unhealed Scars of 9/11

by Mike Kelly

This first-hand reporting spanning from Ground Zero on the day of the 9/11 attacks through decades of trauma and healing offers a stark reminder of just how forcefully the events of September 11 and the war on terror have impacted the lives of countless Americans.


Mike Kelly was across the Hudson River when the two jets crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers in downtown Manhattan on September 11, 2001. His immediate goal was to get to the scene and gather some first-hand reporting to file on deadline. But this was just the first step of a decades-long journey through another kind of rubble, through the pain left behind and the unhealed scars of people's lives in the wake of a terrorist attack.


After Ground Zero traces the lives of a diverse portrait of Americans forced to confront the pain and mystery of the terrorism that tore apart their lives beginning on that September morning. From Kelly's on-the-ground reporting at Ground Zero to Iraq, the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Washington, D.C. and various spots in between, the book follows a line of survivors that range from first responders such as police, fire fighters, clergy, and construction workers, to soldiers deployed overseas, loved ones of those killed, and numerous others as they search for answers, policy changes, reparations and accountability, faith, and healing. Kelly's up-close storytelling is a powerful reminder of just how impactful the 9/11 attacks were and the ripple effect they have had in the decades that followed.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published August 20, 2026

Reviews

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars for this worthwhile read as the twenty-fifth anniversary approaches. Chapter by chapter, the book prepares you for a day & a time where our way of living dramatically changed forever. The author captures how the US looked altered when the sun rose on September 12, 2001.

It is reassuring to realize that the author is an award-winning journalist plus penned several well-researched books. Adding further credibility, Mike Kelly went barreling across the Hudson River towards The Twin Towers as everyone else (with the exception of emergency workers) fled on foot.

The individual stories honor the victims here & as I read, I would pause & look up each name. I felt they deserved that respect. This didn’t happen on some pin on a map in a faraway land – It is challenging to find anyone even in today’s times that didn’t know someone or felt affected by this disaster. How could we ever forget the phrase…If you see something, say something? Travel in every form, schools, & public places were reworked in the days & months ahead.

I read & reread the detailed account of the vast monies poured into 9/11 by Saudi Arabia. The author doesn’t avoid how these funds conflict with our past & current leader in the US.

Trump, the Bush Family & even Henry Kissinger were (or are) too cozy with this terroristic landscape. The LIV Golf League should be considered a slap in the face to every citizen in our country. These are my own opinions. The author sticks to just reporting the facts.

With 19 hijackers moving around the US for months prior to September 11, 2001, & none being able to speak English.…assistance was provided for their comfortable day-to- day life plus the successful effort to fade into various states. Support existed, but the question mark remains.

I close by repeating a direct & sad quote in this book from Trump…”Well, nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11”.

I thank NetGalley, Mike Kelly & Bloomsbury Academic Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair & honest review.

I also remember a dear friend from college & best buddy of my then Husband in 2001…Greg Malone from Maxcor/Euro Brokers in Tower Two. I also remember a friend from our work in the 1980s & news commentator herself - Barbara Olson on AA Flight 77 that crashed into The Pentagon. They were both on my mind as I read & remembered.

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great on-the-ground reporting about the events of 9/11 with the author using both his own memories and notes from the attack as well as interviews with eyewitnesses. Even more, I liked that this dug deeper into the aftermath than most books on the topic do, including how the 9/11 Commission came to be, how the survivors and family members of the deceased came together to sue Saudi Arabia for funding the attack and later fight for the release of classified documents, and the especially wild story about James Yee's experience as a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo and his subsequent arrest that was a result of the Islamophobia prevalent in the U.S. post-9/11.

I think a couple of the subjects featured felt a little random/unrelated, as they'd experienced other forms of terrorism but their stories didn't always connect to the topics at hand, so at times it kinda felt like, "this person has trauma from an unrelated event and 9/11 made them anxious again" – well yes! I think if it went more in-depth into some of these events and was more generally a book about the aftermath for civilian victims of terrorism, it would've made more sense, but I didn't think some of these stories necessarily fit this book.

On the other side of the coin, I saw a brief biography for Antonios Benetatos on the list of interview subjects within the first few pages of this book and was SO excited, he was such a fascinating person when featured in the Naudet brothers' documentary and has been kind of silent ever since (though he was an active Bernie Bro on Twitter for a minute, iconic) so I was really looking forward to hearing from him after such a long time, but his only mention here was a story from the Naudet documentary about 9/11 being his first fire and how he went to the wreckage alongside a retired chief.

[Crystal Felice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many, I remember the events of that day very well. The disbelief, the shock, and the confusion was overpowering. This book covers those feelings but it also delves into the aftermath and investigation as to why and how this happened.
Few are aware of the decades long mission of 9/11 families to search for accountability for this national nightmare that halted the trajectory of their lives. This book walks the path with those families as they try to make sense of the events and how far reaching the plot actually was. The feeling of never being able to find answers to why your loved one was taken from you and why there has never been anyone held accountable is maddening. I can't imagine.
I learned things in this book about that day that I either never knew or had simply forgotten. There were so many chances to have intervened in the path of what was to come yet no one did. The gaslighting to those who suffered mental and physical health problems all because they chose to help on that day and days and months afterward is disgraceful. Many have died just because they chose to be helpers that day. Many continue to suffer because they chose to help that day. The answers to the questions asked by these families still have not been provided and like many other tragic historical events, we may never know because the blame is far and wide.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this copy.

[Shannon Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

feel like with the 25th anniversary coming up, this was a good time to read this.
If any of you know me, you know I'm obsessed with 9/11 and reading about it.
I was only 10 when it happened and am Canadian. I still remember that day like it was yesterday.

Most books I've read have to do with the attacks itself and reading about the survivors harrowing journeys or about the heroics of those on United 93.
This book was interesting to me because it focused on everything that happened after and how it continues to affect those who are still alive today.
So many people have died since the attacks and it is so important to bring attention to the long term health effects so many have suffered.
Those who survived the attacks and those who selflessly took the time to search for survivors or help with the clean up.
This book also looks at the families of the lost who will forever remember their loved ones and what they have all gone through.
A day that we remember one day a year, they remember every day of their lives.
If you are interested in the events of the September 11 attacks, I do reccomend giving this a read.

#neverforget #firstresponders #families #survivors

[Jen Dear · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Review based on ARC**

I really wanted to love this book, but I found it difficult to finish. The author kinda lost me when he mentioned that one of the widows “just lost the plush lifestyle” she thought she was going to have after finding out about 9/11 from her beach house. Every life lost is a tragedy, but I had difficulty relating to the stories of high up financial firm partners.

The first part felt like a vanity project for the author - I wish the author would have just focused on the Jersey Girls’ story instead of their own. Although the stories of the passengers on the planes and firefighters responding to the tragedy is told often (as it should because they should never be forgotten), this was the first time I heard about them and their perseverance for answers.

If I could give advice to the editor: Towards the end of the book, it started to get really repetitive - I didn’t need to be reminded of names of the same two terrorists that was mentioned throughout the book. If I had a dollar for every time the author mentioned the same 9/11 Commission finding…

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prior warning! This will stir emotions in every chapter of the book, as it takes you back to when the first crash hit the news. A day that will not, should not, ever be forgotten. Mike Kelly was up close and personal with the horror that was 9/11. In AFTER GROUND ZERO, he follows the stories of people as they try to heal a wound that touched every American. He gathers and shares the stories of courage and outrage that were part of the history made that day. Americans from every part of the country would set aside their grief to help each other, never hesitating to give. Kelly follows these stories through the days that follow, documenting the challenges faced by the first responders and survivors, as well as the law enforcement personnel who would face an unprecedented criminal investigation. Every American should read this book; it adds a layer of information that has been missing and gives life to those behind the hunt for those responsible. The book should have 50 stars and 13 stripes.

[Mary Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can it be 25 years since 9/11? Apparently it can, and Mike Kelly has written a riveting book about that day, and what happened afterward.

Mike Kelley brings back the puzzlement, sorrow and grief of 9/11 with incredibly detailed reporting. He moves through the events of the day from the perspectives of different people who were in different places, and then skillfully follows their stories as they unfold. The writing is vivid and matches the pace of the unfolding events. The book smoothly organizes a lot of material, and reading it brought back vivid memories of 9/11 and the aftermath. There's a lot here that I hadn't known before.

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. There was so much information not just about 9/11 itself but the after effects and where things stand up till today. Even if you have read plenty of books about this, there is something unique and refreshing about this one. I enjoyed the writing style and the different people introduced that were impacted on a personal level. I thought I knew everything on this topic but I actually learned several new things. Kudos to the author on this great book! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

I was only 2 years old when 9/11 happened. While I grew up learning about the event, I never truly knew how devastating it was until I read this book. Reading about people’s experiences on this tragedy was eye opening. Learning about the political actions (and in-actions) was incredibly educational. Even 25 years later, people are still so impacted and traumatized by what happened. I don’t know if I quite “enjoyed” this book because it’s about such a terrible event, but it was written well.

[Natalie Mathes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing this ARC!

With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, After Ground Zero felt like a particularly meaningful read. I’ve read other books about that day, but this one offered new details and perspectives I hadn’t encountered before. The accounts of so many lives lost were SO heartbreaking. This book sheds light on what followed in the weeks, months, and years after the attacks, which was really interesting and tragic to read. Never forget.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic resource on the days and years that followed 9/11. As a native New Yorker who was directly impacted by the attacks of 9/11, I truly appreciated how this book tackled such a complex topic. The pacing was very well done, I find it appropriate for both those of us who experienced the events following 9/11 and as well as future generations

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC

[Alex Helm · Rating 1 out of 5]

After 9/11, USAmericans found out actions have consequences