
American Ground
Unbuilding the World Trade Center
William Langewiesche; With a New Afterword by the Author
North Point Press

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$17.00
North Point Press
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
On Sale: 09/11/2003
ISBN: 9780865476752
240 PagesSelected as one of the best books of 2002 by The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Sun-Times
Within days after September 11, 2001, William Langewiesche had secured unique, unrestricted, round-the-clock access to the World Trade Center site. American Ground is a tour of this intense, ephemeral world and those who improvised the recovery effort day by day, and in the process reinvented themselves, discovering unknown strengths and weaknesses. In all of its aspects--emotionalism, impulsiveness, opportunism, territoriality, resourcefulness, and fundamental, cacophonous democracy--Langewiesche reveals the unbuilding to be uniquely American and oddly inspiring, a portrait of resilience and ingenuity in the face of disaster.
National Books Critics Circle Awards - Nominee, National Book Critics Circle Award - Nominee, National Book Critics Circle Awards - Nominee, Helen Bernstein Book Award - Nominee
The Inner World
When the Twin Towers collapsed, on the warm, bright morning of September 11, 2001, they made a sound heard variously around New York as a roar, a growl, or distant thunder. The South Tower was the first to go. At 9:59 its...
Praise for American Ground
“The one book to read, if you're only reading one.” —Detroit Free Press
“Slim but powerful . . . truth, unclouded by sentiment.” —The New York Times Book Review
“One of the most compelling, dramatic, and uplifting pieces of writing you are likely ever to read.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Extraordinary . . . An amazing piece of journalism, full of colorful characters and astonishing scenes.” —Peter Carlson, The Washington Post
“Says more about our essential character than a thousand maudlin tributes.” —Boris Kachka, New York