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Who They Were: Inside the World Trade Center DNA Story
Traces the harrowing story of the three-year DNA investigative effort to identify the victims of the World Trade Center attacks, describing the obstacles faced by the author and his forensic biology team to bring closure to thousands of bereaved families. 75,000 first printing.
- GenresNonfictionScienceHistory
384 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 4, 2008
I've read Love You, Mean It several times, which is a memoir about four 9/11 widows. One of the women's husbands is identified a year after 9/11 using DNA, and when I saw Who They Were on a Goodreads friend's "to read" bookshelf, I was curious to fill in the gap of just how they identified the victims of the World Trade Center.
As a piece of writing, Who They Were wasn't that great. It was very dry and very overloaded with details, and I had to read it quickly (in one day) just to try to keep track of who was who, which test was what, etc. And I found it annoying how the author added such a descriptive picture of various characters in the scientific effort; I understand why he would do it, to try to distinguish one person from another and to add a more human element to it, but the format was formulaic and irritating. However, I don't know if I'd have been able to keep track of anyone if it wasn't there, either. Overall I was definitely left wanting for more of this man's personal and emotional response to what he was witnessing. He includes virtually no personal reaction, to mixed effect; yes, it keeps the narrative focused on the task at hand, but at the price of making the man seem like a robot.
As a record of the effort involved to identify the dead and missing at the WTC and all the myriad issues involved, it was fascinating...and a mind-numbing exercise to try to remember much from my introductory biology courses in college 12 years ago. If you don't know anything about DNA, you could get lost and frustrated quite quickly, although the author does a decent job of describing things to someone unfamiliar with the science behind it all.
As a piece of writing, Who They Were wasn't that great. It was very dry and very overloaded with details, and I had to read it quickly (in one day) just to try to keep track of who was who, which test was what, etc. And I found it annoying how the author added such a descriptive picture of various characters in the scientific effort; I understand why he would do it, to try to distinguish one person from another and to add a more human element to it, but the format was formulaic and irritating. However, I don't know if I'd have been able to keep track of anyone if it wasn't there, either. Overall I was definitely left wanting for more of this man's personal and emotional response to what he was witnessing. He includes virtually no personal reaction, to mixed effect; yes, it keeps the narrative focused on the task at hand, but at the price of making the man seem like a robot.
As a record of the effort involved to identify the dead and missing at the WTC and all the myriad issues involved, it was fascinating...and a mind-numbing exercise to try to remember much from my introductory biology courses in college 12 years ago. If you don't know anything about DNA, you could get lost and frustrated quite quickly, although the author does a decent job of describing things to someone unfamiliar with the science behind it all.
September 23, 2015
Very interesting stuff, if you are interested in WTC history. There's a lot of technical language to weed through but overall I enjoyed it
May 13, 2024
Hard to read because of technical nature but full of human emotion and compassion. Best part was on the first anniversary when the winds blew on the pile releasing the souls and giving them peace. 🕊️
December 9, 2023
Fascinating, inside history about the aftermath of 9/11. The extensive efforts to identify the victims of 9/11.
August 8, 2025
Well written and great topic, but there were formatting issues that affected the readability [including a missing page] in the version I bought
April 28, 2016
So, as I write this it's been nearly 15 years since the World Trade Center went down. I was living in Cranleigh, England at the time. I thought I'd got over it by now (the 9/11 events, not the living in Cranleigh) but I had a hard time getting through this book. I gave it 3 stars but that may be more due to my personal reactions to it rather than the quality of the information presented.
If you want to know about how DNA identifications are made, then I highly recommend this book. Although at times it is like reading alphabet soup, there is a helpful glossary in the back to help sort through the soup. But this was an unprecedented project in forensic science. As one person in the DNA project to identify the remains said, "It's like building the plane while you're flying it."
There was one quirk of Shaler's narration that did irk me. He writes a lot in business-speak cliches like "out of the box thinking." I wonder if he really talks like that or if he wound up talking like that due to the bureaucratic shenanigans he had to put up with during his time on the WTC DNA project.
Makes an interesting read after Dog Heroes of September 11th. The dogs helped find the remains and Shaler's team took over to get them back to their families. Remarkable that they perservered -- the dogs and Shaler's team.
If you want to know about how DNA identifications are made, then I highly recommend this book. Although at times it is like reading alphabet soup, there is a helpful glossary in the back to help sort through the soup. But this was an unprecedented project in forensic science. As one person in the DNA project to identify the remains said, "It's like building the plane while you're flying it."
There was one quirk of Shaler's narration that did irk me. He writes a lot in business-speak cliches like "out of the box thinking." I wonder if he really talks like that or if he wound up talking like that due to the bureaucratic shenanigans he had to put up with during his time on the WTC DNA project.
Makes an interesting read after Dog Heroes of September 11th. The dogs helped find the remains and Shaler's team took over to get them back to their families. Remarkable that they perservered -- the dogs and Shaler's team.
April 1, 2013
Disappointing. I had been looking forward to reading this, but I had a hard time getting a copy. When I finally did, I started it right away. However, it was not what I was expecting. Dr. Shaler wrote about his own experiences, with lots of technical data and reasons why he used certain tests, how exactly the lab was organized, and detail after detail. For specialists like himself, this was probably very interesting. But I was hoping for more about the cases he solved and how this knowledge affected them, for more info about the cases and the people who were missing. He includes lots of names, but I couldn't keep them straight and seriously, it didn't matter to me all that much. I don't care about all the departments and agencies involved. I want to know about the people they identified.
I think this could still be a good story in the hands of a better writer. This one is strictly for scientists.
I think this could still be a good story in the hands of a better writer. This one is strictly for scientists.
April 3, 2014
this book has been on my list since 2009 and it took me a while to find it, sit down and read it. Sadly, it was not as good as I wanted it to be. I wanted to read more about "who they were", thinking there would be little stories and snip-its about the WTC victims intermingled with my science. I also thought that it might have a bit more emotional aspect from the author, but I was disappointed.
It was fascinating to read the science behind the identifications, though a bit of a slog at times. I had a hard time keeping up with the acronyms too....thank god for the index at the back of the book.
This book's bottom line for me truly was that this was a teamwork effort and I can better appreciate that fact now.
It was fascinating to read the science behind the identifications, though a bit of a slog at times. I had a hard time keeping up with the acronyms too....thank god for the index at the back of the book.
This book's bottom line for me truly was that this was a teamwork effort and I can better appreciate that fact now.
March 5, 2011
First, this book tells you absolutely nothing about "Who They Were", other than a select very few individuals. Second, it is technical in the extreme from cover to cover, and the author is not a good enough writer to make it interesting. I understand the need to be sensitive, but he goes so far out of his way to avoid actually mentioning any "gory details" that the book is utterly devoid of any sense of humanity.
March 13, 2011
Much too technical, too little human interest, coupled with the author seemingly looking for attention/congratulations for his (admittedly intense) efforts to identify the victims of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks in New York.
September 25, 2011
A story of an unimaginable assignment. A huge amount of detailed technical process information - the author warns of this early on, but there really is too much of this for the average reader. The stories of the families are compelling though.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews