Like it Was Yesterday: A Journalist's Files Since 9/11

by Jill Cueni-Cohen

From personal diary responses to first person accounts this book shares the emotion , shock and tragedy that was 9/11. Jill's reporting weaves the first person tales from Manhattan, to Switzerland when family members reacted to the fall of the Twin towers and the Somerset plane crash. Exploring how we have changed as a nation and yet honored those lost is powerful. Don't be surprised to find the tears flowing.

Good way to share this history with those young adults who were born right around this time.

Highly recommended.

147 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

Reviews

[Jan Spohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful read that will transport you back to that beautiful cloud-less day that became 9/11/ A regional and international journalist, Jill works through her diary entries to begin to examine that tragic day and then process the way our lives have changed.

Well worth the read!

[James Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author takes us right to that day in her first paragraph. From then on her words ring in the ears of us all. I was with her every minute, from the time she was trying to reach her brother by phone until days later when she watched the big planes again flying over her house. And that's how it went to Page 70. Hard to put down.
The writing changed for the articles. It no longer was in the direct and personal voice of Jill, but rather from the professional journalist voice of Jill Cueni-Cohen.
She shares several articles written later that bring out how the people and our country changed. We were united, we donated millions of dollars, we created groups to help make a difference in so many ways for so many people, and young men and women began enlisting in our military.
She tells how her cousin documented that day from multiple videos by tourists and others, Vision Quest was created (a wagon train with Buffalo Soldiers) That traveled from Oklahoma to New York City, to raise money for 9/11-caused orphans.
She also mentions the new Patriot Act passed by Congress (nearly unanimously) 45 days later. And several more articles of how families adjusted and made changes in their lives.
At the end she returns to her personal voice and describes how she'll never forget "...skipping along the top of Tower One with Cousin Gary on a summer night in 1989, but disappointed that we couldn't look over the edge."
****
From a strictly personal point of view I don't understand how we could go from a united nation after 9/11, to being split down the middle today with half the country holding their arms out to bring in more Muslims. A recent video shows an 18-year-old Palestinian girl inside a burka. All we can see are her eyes. Even though recently married she has dreamed of becoming a suicide bomber and even shows us her explosives-packed vest. She has no problem with possibly killing women and children with her bomb. She says, "They will just grow up to be soldiers."
From the other side I say she is correct. "There will never be peace until there are no Muslims who believe in the Koran." The leaders of Islam (including the moolahs and imans in the mosques leading and influencing the Muslim people) want domination by sharia law of America and the world. That has always been its goal, and has not changed its mind.
Islam is Islam. There are "no" moderate Muslims.

[Misty Boden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received our new book from Jill Cueni-Cohen-Like It Was Yesterday, A Journalist's Files Since 9/11 & I have to say that from the minute I opened the book and started reading, I could only put it down long enough to help a friend, have lunch and start a fire when it started getting cold in the house. If you remember 9-11 like I do, you should read it & if you don't remember because you were too young, you should REALLY read it.
Thank you Miss Jill