In Its Shadow: A 9/11 Memoir

by Jodi Graber Pratt

At 8:43 a.m., it was unthinkable. Three minutes later, it was reality.

September 11, 2001 started as a normal day for the people of Manhattan. Leaving Building Seven of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m., businesswoman Jodi Graber Pratt heard the roar of massive engines and felt the air pressure increase directly over her head—a split second before the North Tower was ripped open by the first of two planes that would hit the World Trade Center that day, shattering the domestic peace and safety Americans took for granted. Jodi ran for her life as chunks of concrete rained from the sky.

And that was only the beginning.

Imprisoned within the city for several excruciating days, she found herself living in an alternate United States, where assumptions about security, safety, and freedom were suspended. Despair gripped New York and the rest of the country, and terrorism became more than something that happened to other people in other countries.

She also found herself rethinking her privileges and responsibilities as an American.

Experience the first moments of 9/11 through the eyes of someone who lived through them, then struggled to recall and evaluate them, looking for the real questions: how to return America's focus to its traditional values, ideals and democracy? How to find and promote men and women of character, intelligence, humility and ability to build the necessary government? How—and when—to begin?

141 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2019

Reviews

[Ann Van Hine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the author explaining how her survivor side reacted in contrast to her observer side or even analytical side as she experienced the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center first hand. Also she was transparent about the struggle of coping with all she had seen and experienced.

[Fred Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author details her experiences in a well-written and fully explained telling of 911. The author answers the five Ws of her experiences. I liked comparing her experiences on 911 to those during the NY blackout that occurred a few years later. The author also highlights what she learned from those experiences and greatly appreciated those lessons. I liked the book and think anyone who still wants to learn more about 911 will like it too.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great memoir with a different perspective of 9/11. Also addresses the lingering effects on those directly affected by that day.

[Bob Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This powerful, passionate book has two components. The bulk of it is self-therapy for PTSD, while the Epilogue is a call for all the people of the United States to return to the values their country was founded on.
Jodi could have called her book “PTSD from the inside.” It will be valuable reading for students of psychology, trainee law enforcement officers and other first responders, and for anyone who needs to develop empathy.
Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” My grandmother said, “Every fight starts with you hitting back.” The motivation for the 9/11 attack, and the 20-year response to it, amply demonstrate this truth. And, as Jodi beautifully shows in this book, the response to an attack is flag-waving, proud defiance rather than cowering in defeat. Since this is an account of her personal experience, she could not say, but I can, that this goes both ways. I wish that traditional enemies, for example in Ireland, Israel, various African countries, and in the far East would learn this lesson. Understanding it would certainly improve American foreign policy.
Jodi has the skill of building up a feeling of doom, even though the reader knows what’s coming, much like Stephen King. Only, her story is fact rather than fiction.
I can summarize the second part in a single quote: “We have fallen victim to the very weaknesses against which our founders warned us.” (p 104)
Highly recommended.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

September 11,2001, started as a normal day for the people who lived and worked in Manhattan. Then the first of two planes hit The World Trade Center at 8:46 AM shattering America's assumption of domestic peace and safety. Jodi Garber Pratt a 48-year-old businesswoman was at the WTC the morning of 9/11. She was only aware of an unearthly sound pressing low over her head. A split second later the Noth tower was savagely ripped open and burst into flames high above her. And this was just the beginning of the devastation that would follow. Imprisoned in the city after the attacks she found herself living in an alternate USA where assumptions about security safety and freedom were suspended. Anguish and despair gripped New York and the United States where Terrorism had now become more than a threat. This was the type of actual life encounter that few Americans alive today have ever experienced the kind that leads people to rethink their roles and privileges from new perspectives. These pages will take you into the moments of those first days through the eyes of someone who lived them and has come to ask herself how we return our country to focus on the traditional American values, ideas and democracy that encourage and nourish both prosperity and morality for all. A book that I could not put down!!!!!

[Jodi Andes]

This book is so detailed and descriptive it had me on the streets of New York for hours. I could smell the air and feel the breeze until the unthinkable occurred. Then I swear my shoulders tensed as you dodged the debris and I looked in the eyes of others on the street next to me - because she took me there. You talk to so many people through the years about where they were and how life changed, but I never experienced the horror and shock of those on the streets of NYC felt until now. As you walk with author Jodi Pratt on the streets, the book is impossible to put down.

Pratt then eloquently puts it all in context of why remembering this all is so important. She is a skilled writer that leaves you feel more like a friend who is right there with her.

Highly recommended.

[Amy Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

We are approaching the 20th anniversary of this horrific event, and I saw Jodi's story somewhere and it piqued my interest. She was just right there, on business travel, and takes us on her horrific journey to safety. But she doesn't feel safe for a long time. It made me sad when she talked about how Americans supported each other at that tim..e. S,o much has changed.

The book kept me interested.

[Jacci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the memoir portion of this book, but didn't expect the final quarter of it to be a political manifesto for making change, including George Washington's farewell address. Although I agree that change is much needed I read this book to read about 9/11, rather than an opinion on what should be done to affect change.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok read of one person's experience

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly riveting account of 9/11 and the collapse of the two towers! In reading this book you feel you are on the journey with the author trying to understand the magnitude of what she had just witnessed and how to proceed moments after she witnessed it. This book presents a detailed historically accurate view of not only the WTC tragedy, but also the city of New York where this tragedy unfolds.

[Jodi Graber Pratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020 Readers' Favorite International Book Award in Government and Politics

[Michelle Schulten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book by an amazing author. Such detail of events from a personal perspective.