Book Description
The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan's critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect" (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, "The Worst Hard Time" is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.
Customer Reviews:
It's Good --- but is it National-Book-Award good?.......2007-10-16
I liked this book. For the most part.
It's an exciting account of an amazing and horrific time in the nation's history, and its descriptions of the dust storms as they came in over the prairies are absolutely terrifying--but I think it's far from the great book that it could have been.
The story, of course, is one of the great stories of American history, and will no doubt enthrall any readers unfamiliar with the 1930s Dust Bowl. But the book fails, I think, in bringing across the full scope of it all, focusing so intently on handful of towns and counties (and always forgetting to remind us what states these towns are in) that it feels like more like a gathering of a number of isolated occurrences. It also fails to provide all the facts that the story begs to contain. And it kind of peters off toward the end, as if the author just grew tired of the subject.
Is this a good book? Sure. I enjoyed it. But would I have given it the National Book Award? No. And is it the best book on the subject? No, again. I prefer the book "Dust Bowl," by Donald Worster, which I found to be much more thorough and vivid in its treatment of the subject.
Outstanding.......2007-10-10
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
This is an outstanding book! I had no idea how bad the Dust Bowl was. I was so impressed with the book that I bought a copy for each of my 3 siblings.
Unbelievable!.......2007-10-03
This book was fantastic. Although the majority of books I read are fiction, I'm not hesitant to read good non-fiction. This book was so well written that it reads like a taut novel. Along with Seabiscuit and The Devil in the White City, it is one of the best historical books I've read. Very well researched and thought out. You almost can't believe that this could have actually happened. You feel like you know the characters, and you certainly root for them even though you seemingly know how it will turn out. I would recommend this book to any avid reader - fiction or non-fiction.
Hopefully, we will learn from our past.......2007-10-02
This is an important event in US history that is so relevant today, supplying more fuel for both side of the ongoing debate on global warming.
I found it a bit difficult to stay connected to the characters. In spite of that, the story remained interesting, showing the plight and hardships endured by the generation before us, and bringing us an awareness of our fragile ecosystem.
Eye Opening and Hard to Put Down.......2007-09-25
A must read for history buffs and readers in general. Information places the midwest, its people, and past in an entirely different light of appreciation. (Absolutely Facinating)!
Book Description
From the bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea—winner of the National Book Award—the startling story of the Plymouth Colony
From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a fifty-five-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound.
The Mayflower's religious refugees arrived in Plymouth Harbor during a period of crisis for Native Americans as disease spread by European fishermen devastated their populations. Initially the two groups—the Wampanoags, under the charismatic and calculating chief Massasoit, and the Pilgrims, whose pugnacious military officer Miles Standish was barely five feet tall—maintained a fragile working relationship. But within decades, New England would erupt into King Philip's War, a savagely bloody conflict that nearly wiped out English colonists and natives alike and forever altered the face of the fledgling colonies and the country that would grow from them.
With towering figures like William Bradford and the distinctly American hero Benjamin Church at the center of his narrative, Philbrick has fashioned a fresh and compelling portrait of the dawn of American history—a history dominated right from the start by issues of race, violence, and religion.
Customer Reviews:
Mayflower.......2007-10-18
The history presented by Nathaniel Philbrick is very interesting and gives a person a more personable view of the Mayflower families and times (as well as of the Indians in New England). I found his information to be quite complete and filled in a lot of history that has not been published before that I know of.
Unraveling a Myth.......2007-10-18
" Wherever they first set foot on the American continent, it wasn't Plymouth, and it certainly wasn't Plymouth Rock. The first Thanksgiving (in 1621) was indeed attended by Indians as well as Pilgrims, but they didn't sit at the tidy table depicted in Victorian popular art; they "stood, squatted, or sat on the ground as they clustered around outdoor fires, where the deer and birds turned on wooden spits and where pottages -- stews into which varieties of meats and vegetables were thrown -- simmered invitingly."
- Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
How many of us grew up with myths about the Pilgrims and about the first Thanksgiving? We all believed that the Pilgrims and the Indians sat at a beautiful table laden with turkey, cranberries and all of the fixings. Not only was that not the case, they certainly didn't set foot on Plymouth Rock.
Philbrick puts these myths to rest. And he tells us about the beginning of our new country and what was the basis for its foundation. Our myths contained stories about Massasoit and Squanto, Bradford and Winslow and, of course, Miles Standish.
One of the major accounts in the book was that of the King Philip's War. We learned that it really did not have to be. Both sides could have developed solutions which respected the goodness in each other as well as the differences.
We learned about how the Indians were shipped off to foreign places during this war and were separated from all of their families and tribes....never to be heard from again (having been made slaves). Only a few ever made it back like Squanto, for example.
Philbrick discusses why the war occurred after so many years of peace and why the descendants of Massasoit and of Bradford and Winslow came to see things differently than their fathers; losing sight of the faith and the respect for the individual that their forefathers had long revered. They also blocked out the memory of how they all needed one another to survive.
The Mayflower Compact, we learn, is one document that laid the foundations for the country that America was to become. Yet, our forefathers had to live through a nightmare of a war (of their own making) where both sides suffered tremendously. It took many years after the war ended to ever recoup even a portion of what was lost.
Philbrick's book is a story of courage, community and war on both sides as well as a story of how our forefathers lost sight of what the Indians had done for their ancestors and their fathers and what was owed to these people. In doing so, they also lost sight of the need for diplomacy and how to work together to come up with solutions that would be good for both the settlers as well as the Indians.
MAYFLOWER has won many awards and the book deserves all of them. What I have come away with deals first with the myth. This was unraveled for me so that I could understand and gain knowledge of the facts of these early settlements. I learned what worked, what didn't work and why the peaceful compact fell apart. I also learned that we can gain a lot from understanding our past and that we do not have to make the same mistakes over again.
Nathaniel Philbrick has given us hope that our future does not always have to resemble our past. He wrote, "When violence and fear grip a society, there is an almost overpowering temptation to demonize the enemy. But some on both sides refused to succumb. They were the ones whose rambunctious and intrinsically rebellious faith in humanity finally brought the war to an end, and they are the heroes of this story."
During the times that we face now, our heroes can continue to be those leaders and citizens who strive to focus on the faith in humanity and celebrate our differences as well as our similarities finding solutions rather than reasons to turn away from each other.
Four Stars: B+ (Recommend Highly)
Bentley/2007
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Not what I was hoping for.......2007-10-13
I couldn't get into this book because it was very different from what I thought it would be. I expected "Mayflower" to be a detailed account of why the pilgrims decided to journey to America, and also a vivid description of what life aboard the Mayflower was actually like. The book did cover those things, but only for a few short pages. Most of the book is devoted to the history of Plymouth Colony and King Philip's War. Author Nataniel Philbrick does an excellent job of shooting down the myths many people believe about what the pilgrim settlement was actually like, but I was much more interested in reading about the actual Mayflower journey and was disappointed that so little information about that event was included in this 400+ page book. "Mayflower" should be called "King Philip's War" so readers know what they're getting into.
Educational book.......2007-09-26
This is a very informative, accurate writing of our history. More people should read and know the real history of our country.
Not what I expected, but.......2007-09-16
the book was still a captivating piece of literature. I read this directly after reading In the Heart of the Sea by Philbrick, and was expecting the same type of story. That was not the case however. The title is a bit misleading in that one thinks they are going to be reading (or at least I did) a story of the journey. The subtitle should have cued me in. The book is about the struggle between the settlers and the natives more so than it is about the voyage to the new world. All that being said, I still loved the book. I gave the book four stars because I wish there was more about the actual voyage, and I think the title is a little misleading. All in all though, it is a superb piece of literature.
Amazon.com
In the 19th century, the Brooklyn Bridge was viewed as the greatest engineering feat of mankind. The Roeblings--father and son--toiled for decades, fighting competitors, corrupt politicians, and the laws of nature to fabricate a bridge which, after 100 years, still provides one of the major avenues of access to one of the world's busiest cities--as compared to many bridges built at the same time which collapsed within decades or even years. It is refreshing to read such a magnificent story of real architecture and engineering in an era where these words refer to tiny bits and bytes that inspire awe only in their abstract consequences, and not in their tangible physical magnificence.
Book Description
This monumental book is the enthralling story of one of the greatest events in our nation's history, during the Age of Optimism -- a period when Americans were convinced in their hearts that all things were possible.
In the years around 1870, when the project was first undertaken, the concept of building an unprecedented bridge to span the East River between the great cities of Manhattan and Brooklyn required a vision and determination comparable to that which went into the building of the great cathedrals. Throughout the fourteen years of its construction, the odds against the successful completion of the bridge seemed staggering. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, political empires fell, and surges of public emotion constantly threatened the project. But this is not merely the saga of an engineering miracle; it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time and of the heroes and rascals who had a hand in either constructing or exploiting the surpassing enterprise.
Customer Reviews:
Great Bridge and a great read.......2007-05-24
This is a fine history and many fine biographies all rolled together with an instruction manual
for building suspension bridges. We learn of the many forces influencing the project, the technical
problems, the commercial challenges, the political corruption and the problems caused by honest
politicans, professional jealosies, the long shadow of the civil war, religious scandals, cultural
fads, rapidly changing technology, the medical mystery of the bends, and on, and on.
It is a well told tale. It is factual and well documented. The only quibble I can make is an
occasional lapse into mind reading, "...Roebling must have felt..." Even these rare occasions are
usually followed by quotes from letters, journals, or reports that make the supposition reasonable.
I have not stopped strangers on the street to urge them to read this book, but it is tempting.
I listened to it, instead of turning pages. That format works well except in one tiny detail that
might not matter to most readers. There are many comparisons between budget and actual expenses,
between physical quantities used on this bridge or that bridge, and so on. The numbers are reported
as accurately as possible. That shows good scholarship, but makes it difficult to compare magnitudes.
Another gem from America's greatest historian.......2007-05-22
Through his long line of books on some of America's greatest figures (Truman, John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt) and historical events (Johnstown Flood, Panama Canal, Brooklyn Bridge), David McCollough has earned the title of America's greatest historian.
As in his previous works, McCollough masterfully crafts his prose around one of the most historically significant and interesting events of 19th century America, the design and construction of the Brookly Bridge. Prior to reading this book, I must admit to an almost complete lack of appreciation for this feat. Suffice it to say that in the mid to late 19th century, construction of a suspension bridge on the scale of the Brooklyn Bridge was almost a leap of faith during a time when many if not most bridges failed soon after construction.
This is largely a story about John A. Roebling and his son Washington Roebling, the former having initially designed and "sold" the bridge, the latter being left with the task of constructing the bridge following the gruesome death of his father from tetanus. Also a key player in the story is Washington Roebling's wife Emily, who many charge was actually in charge of the bridge project during the frequent periods of incapacity suffered by her husband.
The background on both Roeblings was very interesting and key to an understanding of the personal dynamics involved in the politics and administration of the bridge project, and some of the most enlightening segments of the work deal with the politics of the era and region (this period spanning the reign of "Boss" Tweed over Tammany Hall).
McCollough's best work, however, is taking the very complicated and cutting edge engineering priciples of the time and explaining them through well crafted language and numerous sketches in such a way that most can be followed and understood (maybe not completely) by the reader. The novel concept of the caissons, by which the monstrous bridge piers were embedded into bedrock, and the resulting discovery of "the bends", was riveting reading.
All in all, a typical McCollough tour de force. As in many of his previous works, most similar in style to Panama Canal, McCollough takes a historically significant event, explains why it was so significant, points out the extreme difficulties faced by the participants and puts a human face on the travails and suffering endured by the key players. As in Panama Canal, politics plays a key role in this story.
If you're like me, most of the background to this story will be almost entirely new to you. Did you know that in 1880, Brooklyn was the third largest city in the United States (prior to its merger into New York City). I highly recommend this book, not just for its entertainment value, but for its great history lessons.
THe Brooklin Bridge.......2007-03-29
It is an excellent book. He went into great detail on it's construction in the first 2/3rds of the book all the way to the main support wires but then skipped over the rest of the work. But I liked it. Not his best, but excellent none the less. John Adams is his best book.
The Great Bridge - An outstanding protrayal of 19th Century genius.......2007-03-25
I had many questions regarding the 19th Century technology used to construct the much admired, iconic Brooklyn Bridge. David McCullough most ably answers them all, along with a detailed portrayal of the genius father and son team, John and Washington Roebling. Along the way, unfolds an insightful treatment of rival engineers, crooks, and politicians. Self-educated James Eads built a triple steel arch bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis. William Marcy Tweed, the archetypal corrupt politician, along with confederates and challengers, were the movers and shakers of all public projects that took place in New York and Brooklyn.
John Roebling, a university educated engineer from Germany, developed a successful wire rope manufacturing business which he applied to the design and construction of numerous suspension bridges, among which were impressive bridges at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Niagara Falls. These successes led to the acceptance of his bid for the Brooklyn Bridge contract. Washington, who led construction projects and built bridges for the Union Army, was his father's second in command.
In the early stages of mapping out the construction, John was injured in a freak accident which resulted in tetanus and his subsequent terrible death. At age thirty-two, Washington, with some misgivings by the bridge committee because of his youth, took over the project and quickly proved his capabilities by designing the two most massive caissons ever constructed. These were used for the foundations of the bridge's East River towers. Ironically, Washington was afflicted with caisson disease (now known as the bends) while fighting a fire in the Brooklyn caisson. This left him an invalid. Washington's most remarkable wife, Emily, quickly made herself knowledgeable in what needed to be done and became Washington's link to the on-site engineers as Washington watched the bridge's progress from a window in their home. At the time, there was speculation that the reclusive Washington was no longer rational and that Emily was the actual chief engineer.
The project took 14-years as it overcame innumerable problems, both technical and political. The Great Bridge opened in 1883 with heretofore unprecedented celebration. Washington later recovered from the bends, living until 1926 as he acquired considerable wealth from the manufacture of wire rope.
Factual Errors in K. Burns review.......2007-02-23
Don't mean to split hairs but previous latest review by Kerry Burns is factually incorrect. John Augustus Roebling was the father and Washington Roebling the son. Emily was the wife of John A. Roebling and one of the GREAT heroes of this magnificent book by the brilliant David McCullough. The Great Bridge is inspiring and uplifting to say the least. An epic triumph of design, engineering and construction genius. All the design,
engineering and construction genius would be for naught were it not for the incredible dedication of the Roeblings and so many others. Completed in 1881 the bridge is a monument to all the blood, sweat and tears that went into it. The book is a classic and a must read in this day when the recently completed BIG DIG in Boston ( at a cost of $15
billion ) is already an unmitigated DISASTER. The Great Bridge is a great read.
Book Description
"An exceptional history . . . Derrick's well-written narrative is packed with thoroughly researched facts and reasoning."
—Library Journal
"Derrick's book goes more into the details of the behind the scenes actions that surrounded the construction of the largest public transportation system ever."
—Bronx Times
"...a valuable case study in the micropolitics of one of the Progressive era's signature projects."
—The Wall Street Journal
"[An] excellent addition to the literature of the city's planning, development and economics."
—Publishers Weekly
"Illuminating . . . Yes, the city built the subway (with a lot of help from the private sector), but more important, the subway built the city, which remains dependent on its intricate structure."
—New York magazine
"As the most detailed and thorough account available of the dual system, Derrick's book has improved out understanding of rapid transit politics and urban planning."
—The Journal of American History, June 2002
In 1910, New York City was bursting at the seams as more and more people crowded into a limited supply of housing in the tenement districts of Manhattan and the older areas of Brooklyn. With no outlet for its exploding population, and the burgeoning social problems created by the overwhelming congestion, New York faced a serious crisis which city and state leaders addressed with dramatic measures. In March 1913, public officials and officers of the two existing rapid transit networks shook hands to seal a deal for a greatly expanded subway system which would more than double the size of the two existing transit networks.
At the time the largest and most expensive single municipal project ever attempted, the Dual System of Rapid Transit set the pattern of growth in New York City for decades to come, helped provide millions of families a better quality of life, and, in the words of Manhattan borough president George McAneny (1910-1913), "proved the city's physical salvation." It stands as that rare success story, an enormously complicated project undertaken against great odds which proved successful beyond all measure.
Published in conjunction with the History of the City of New York Project.
Customer Reviews:
A political-financial history of the "Dual Contracts".......2001-08-24
Peter Derrick's book covers the "Dual Contracts" era of subway construction in New York, when numerous lines were built between 1910 and 1931 by the IRT and the BRT /BMT. Derrick focuses on the interactions between executives of the then-existing subway companies and municipal politicians. Only a few paragraphs cover the "Independent" subway system, which was built after 1931.
Endnotes, bibliography, etc., comprise 155 pages of this book, or nearly a third of its pages. There are eight maps and 24 period photographs. There is nothing in this book about station design, track layouts, operating procedures, or rolling stock. In fact, the book ends when construction began. It was a worthy endeavor of historical research to document the political deal-making of this period, but some readers may be disappointed that the author's interest was solely in the back-room political gamesmanship that preceded construction
New York City's Pivotal Moment.......2001-04-15
No other historian has identified so important a piece of NYC's history on which so little is known, and written so lucidly about it. This is not just enjoyable history. You cannot understand New York City today without reading Derrick's book.
The greatest city of the modern era had its pivotal moment early in the 20th century with the decision in 1913 to double the size of its subway system: the largest public-works expenditure in the Western Hemisphere to that date. This decision, a dozen years and more in the making and led by Manhattan Borough President George McAneny, was propelled by the inability to resolve the problems of disease, crime, prosititution, overpopulation and poverty that overwhelmed Manhattan's Lower East Side, spilling into more affluent neighborhoods throughout the city. Getting employees out of impoverishment and to their jobs was now an impediment to development and modernization. The vision that turned farm lands into an urban center was a leap into the unknown and Derrick meticulously details this exciting chapter in NYC's history, a chapter that when fully understood, reveals how issues get resolved and great accomplishments propelled. In comparison, the highway system of the Robert Moses era was but an anxilary event.
Book Description
In 1966, everyone who was anyone wanted an invitation to Truman Capote's "Black and White Dance" in New York, and guests included Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, C. Z. Guest, Kennedys, Rockefellers, and more. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and drawings of the guests, this portrait of revelry at the height of the swirling, swinging sixties is a must for anyone interested in American popular culture and the lifestyles of the rich, famous, and talented.
Customer Reviews:
An entertaining social history.......2007-10-07
An enjoyable insight into the world of New York socialites and an unusual character who rose from small town anonymity to become a key power-broker in that world. The book also traces the personal traits which lead to his downfall. There is a great mix of colorful imagery of the lavish lifestyles and ultimate party, along with interesting social commentary. Truman's eccentricities are revealed in a way which doesn't allow him to become a caricature. A fun weekend read.
great gossipy goodness.......2007-08-18
a great, fun read. a nice look into truman capote's life, the social scene of nyc in the 60s and this fabulous par-tay!
Peering at the peerless.......2007-08-11
If you're fascinated by the 1960s, you'll love Davis's take of Truman Capote's legendary black and white ball held in the Grand Ballroom at the Plaza Hotel in November 1966. Davis has a gift for not patronizing her readers. To those readers who were living, thinking, socially conscious adults in the 60s and can personally recall Capote's self-aggrandizing antics, she retells the familiar story in a unique and lively manner. For those readers coming to this story very much after-the-fact, she succinctly provides all the necessary background information without overloading the story with unnecessary details. What I enjoyed most was Davis's ability to convey the tone and mood of the era she's describing. Nineteen sixty-six, in retrospect, seems to have been a pivotal year. Positioned as it was at the virtual midpoint between the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers, it is neither a time of great optimism (American jingoism) nor a time of open rebellion. But clearly, the old order is beginning to fray at the seams. The anxiety people felt over not being invited to what promised to be "the party of the century" is hard to fathom today and is almost touching in its pathos. And to read over the list of "the invited" (which Davis provides as an appendix) is in a strange way somewhat comforting. Whatever their faults, these people (with the possible exception of Lee Radziwill) were at least famous because of their accomplishments or social status. But clearly the era of celebrities who would be "famous solely for being famous" was not far off, and Davis does a good job of suggesting its immanence. One can't help wondering if Capote's party didn't in some way help to bring it about. The last two chapters ("Hangover" and "Afterword") close the story with sobering accounts of Capote's artistic decline and of what eventually happened to some of Capote's famous guests. As social history or memento mori, THE PARTY OF THE CENTURY is a thoroughly satisfying read.
wrong info....about Mrs. Gloria Guinness.......2007-05-22
Ms.Davis yes,give us suppostly a good title,but inmediatly when I read the first 4 chapters...ohhh big dissapointment...no big research,about
the "ball of the siècle"...either her "swans"..for example..Mrs.Gloria
Guinness was born in Guadalajara,capital of the Jalisco,the richest and
more snobish place in all Mexico,for more detail in a patio downtown house
between the El Carmen and El Pilar churches in that city...then,one of
the most elegants areas in all Guadalajara.
In honor to the truth there is a big difference between born and grew in
Guadalajara(considerated in Mexico as Boston or Philadelphia are in USA)..¡¡to born and grew up in a ugly cargo ships port as Veracruz¡¡
Her`s mother was a very well know Hat designer...witch its not the same a "seamstress"...the family Rubio-Alatorre still living in Guadalajara
and are very well know people on the very close circle of the old
names of the higth society in the capital of the State of Jalisco,mostly
of those families trace his lineage to the XVI century...¡¡and the most
"news" on the beginning of the XVIII siècle¡¡
The world famous classical look of Mrs.Guinness,was and still very usual in Guadalajara:a twin set cardigan...black little dress and pearls...always pearls...in a city famous for the extraordinary beauty
and charm and natural elegance of the womans,the elegance of Mrs.Guinness was normal...another example was the recently death Countess de Teba y Baños(neè Elena Verea y Corcuera)another extraordinary women born and raised in Guadalajara,who` was married in Paris and living in Madrid and Guadalajara(her mother was painted for Lazslo in Paris)...she was very close friend and muse of
Cristobal Balenciaga,the king of the Haute Couture in Paris for many
years...Thats for sure Ms.Deborah Davis,author of this book maybe needs more exactly information about the "swans" of Mr. Capote..¡¡ not only go to the Wikipedia..¡¡
best regards
Fernando Partida Rocha
Great Read.......2007-02-19
If you're a Truman Capote fan, I thoroughly recommend this book. I enjoyed my encounter with Truman and his ascendence into society. An easy read,and fascinating to read about his never to be repeated, Black and White Ball.
Book Description
When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving,
polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records–recently declared a national treasure–are now being translated. Drawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative–a story of global sweep centered on a wilderness called Manhattan–that transforms our understanding of early America.
The Dutch colony pre-dated the “original” thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture.
The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.
Customer Reviews:
Little known yet influential colony.......2007-09-23
In this groundbreaking book on America's early history we are given a treat and shown how much of our history came not only from the English Puritans but by the Dutch colony of New Netherland. I was amazed to read that this little known colony has had such a profound effect on the United States and yet is little studied or referenced.
Shorto does a wonderful job in illustrating that ramifications of the free thinking and freely governed society that was the origins of the hub of early America: Manhattan. The "melting pot" that was this colony has certainly defined the US as a country today. Other evidence of the long forgotten Dutch colony: Bronck (Bronx), Breuckele (Brooklyn), Jonker's Land (Yonkers), Roode Eylandt (Rhode Island), Nieuw Haarlem (Harlem), Greenwyck (Greenwich Village) among others.
Additionally such well known streets as Wall Street (a Dutch street bordering a wall that was built to keep the invading English out), Broadway Street (obviously, a Dutch street that was broad). The first district attorney can be traced back to the Dutch schout (van der Donck in this case), which was the colonies law officer. No other countries employed such an officer except the Dutch at the time. Some other trivial associations: koeckjes (cookies), or koolsla (the favorite American BBQ side dish cole slaw).
Shorto does a fantastic job in not only illustrating the importance of this little known colony but in also bringing to life the history of the era and politics of the European countries of the time. I would definitely recommend.
5 stars.
An island to make New Yorkers proud.......2007-08-27
This is a well written history of the Dutch settlement in New York. A great deal of the information has been recently uncovered. New Yorkers will recognize in themselves with pride, the inheritance received from these early settlers.
Not There Yet........2007-08-10
This could have been a 5 star book about a rarely mentioned topic. The author put together a concise work into the history of the growth from New Amsterdam to New York. He chronicles the era of the first Dutch settlers & draws from a wealth of unique first hand infoormation. The main point of the book is how important New Amsterdam was in the growth of the USA. But, although I personally agree with his thesis, he did a mediocre job of proving it. The person of Adraien van der Donck, a lawyer is woven into the story as a very influential person. But, the data given is scanty & the connections are questionable. The other theme, a refreshing one is the deep racial & ethnic tolerance the Dutch appear to have had. A third theme is the role of government which under the Dutch was not a monarchy unlike most European ones at that time.It is a vivid & entertaining story that leaves the reader a bit frustrated. You keep asking yourself, when is the author going to connect the dots? Lastly, the grammatical errors were far too numerous for a semi-scholarly book as this. I recommend it as a good read, but overall it only gets 3 stars.
Dutch.......2007-08-02
This book was sent to my great nephew...we are Dutch descent and many
of our ancestors are mentioned in this fascinating history. Glad to get it at such a reasonable price.
Elderhostel is right!.......2007-08-02
The reading list for the Elderhostel ONE LOCK AT A TIME: THE LIVING HISTORY OF THE ERIE CANAL starts with this book, and highly recommends it, as does our U.S. lecturer. It's not an "easy read," but worth the time and effort. I learned much about the Dutch in our country and their effects on our lives, continuing to this day.
Book Description
Beneath the national radar, the relationship between citizens and government is undergoing a dramatic shift. More than ever before, citizens are educated, skeptical, and capable of bringing the decision-making process to a sudden halt. Public officials and other leaders are tired of confrontation and desperate for resources. In order to address persistent challenges like education, race relations, crime prevention, land use planning, and economic development, communities have been forced to find new ways for people and public servants to work together.
The stories of civic experiments in this book can show us the realpolitik of deliberative democracy, and illustrate how the evolution of democracy is already reshaping politics.
Customer Reviews:
Though provoking.......2007-03-29
The book examines the changing relationship between Americans and their government. Citizens want to participate in the nuts and bolts of providing government services. The smallest details of mundane programs have become subject of public debate.
Book Description
For seventy-five years, it’s been Manhattan’s richest apartment building, and one of the most lusted-after addresses in the world. One apartment had 37 rooms, 14 bathrooms, 43 closets, 11 working fireplaces, a private elevator, and his-and-hers saunas; another at one time had a live-in service staff of 16. To this day, it is steeped in the purest luxury, the kind most of us could only imagine, until now.
The last great building to go up along New York’s Gold Coast, construction on 740 Park finished in 1930. Since then, 740 has been home to an ever-evolving cadre of our wealthiest and most powerful families, some of America’s (and the world’s) oldest money—the kind attached to names like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Bouvier, Chrysler, Niarchos, Houghton, and Harkness—and some whose names evoke the excesses of today’s monied elite: Kravis, Koch, Bronfman, Perelman, Steinberg, and Schwarzman. All along, the building has housed titans of industry, political power brokers, international royalty, fabulous scam-artists, and even the lowest scoundrels.
The book begins with the tumultuous story of the building’s construction. Conceived in the bubbling financial, artistic, and social cauldron of 1920’s Manhattan, 740 Park rose to its dizzying heights as the stock market plunged in 1929—the building was in dire financial straits before the first apartments were sold. The builders include the architectural genius Rosario Candela, the scheming businessman James T. Lee (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s grandfather), and a raft of financiers, many of whom were little more than white-collar crooks and grand-scale hustlers.
Once finished, 740 became a magnet for the richest, oldest families in the country: the Brewsters, descendents of the leader of the Plymouth Colony; the socially-registered Bordens, Hoppins, Scovilles, Thornes, and Schermerhorns; and top executives of the Chase Bank, American Express, and U.S. Rubber. Outside the walls of 740 Park, these were the people shaping America culturally and economically. Within those walls, they were indulging in all of the Seven Deadly Sins.
As the social climate evolved throughout the last century, so did 740 Park: after World War II, the building’s rulers eased their more restrictive policies and began allowing Jews (though not to this day African Americans) to reside within their hallowed walls. Nowadays, it is full to bursting with new money, people whose fortunes, though freshly-made, are large enough to buy their way in.
At its core this book is a social history of the American rich, and how the locus of power and influence has shifted haltingly from old bloodlines to new money. But it’s also much more than that: filled with meaty, startling, often tragic stories of the people who lived behind 740’s walls, the book gives us an unprecedented access to worlds of wealth, privilege, and extraordinary folly that are usually hidden behind a scrim of money and influence. This is, truly, how the other half—or at least the other one hundredth of one percent—lives.
Customer Reviews:
My head is spinning.......2007-06-27
I'm on pg 184, and vow to get to the end, but I don't expect it to be easy. Like the other comments, I agree that pictures would have been wonderful to include, just so I could attempt to keep some of these people straight. This book gets so weighed down with names, and they've become a blur. Junior Rockefeller was interesting, but all the names of each and every lawyer and law firm and decorators and whatnot it just bogs it all down.
I'm doing Google searches on the main people, just so I can try to paint a better mental picture.
**edited - I didn't make it through the book. It's not worth my time.
No One Does NY Dish Better.......2007-05-24
Michael Gross has been living in New York City his entire life. That's a nice way of saying that he comes by his real estate obsesssion naturally. All New Yorkers seem to talk about these days is where they live, where they want to live and how much it costs.
That makes 740 Park is a natural subject for Gross who's got a sharp wit and fine sense of what makes his native city's power brokers tick. 740 Park is a great read for anyone wanting a history of one of the city's big name building, one of those places that almost everyone in towns wants to own but only a few - very few - even get to visit.
I liked this book both for its dish and its perpective and that's a hard act to pull off successfully. Gross does a fine job.
When Does This End?.......2007-05-17
I lived in NY from 1989-1994, worked around the corner at Ralph Lauren and have always had a strong interest in architecture and New York history. I bought this book with enthusiasm.
I couldn't believe how much information is packed into it. There are over 500 pages! About page 20, I began to get lost. I simply couldn't read it. It is packed with so much minutae and tedious history of each and every tenant that it became absurd.
Here is what (my version) of his writing is. Imagine 500 pages of:
"Lucretia Davis was the widow of Malcom Dodge Davis, the same Dodges who came over on the Mayflower and began to buy up land outside of Dodgeville, MS. The old Mississippi Dodges met the Fish family when wintering in Jekyll Island and they began a friendship that cultimated in Betsy Fish's marriage to Dennis Davis and the birth of their daughter Emily Davis in 1911. In that year, the entire Davis clan, and the Fish family formed a corporation, known as Dodge Fish which eventually became the F. Dodge Fish Financial Bank. This bank began serving customers on July 21, 1921 but not before a terrible fire at 5 Wall Street which began on the night of July 20, 1921 and severely burned Mrs. Fish Davis so that she was forced to recuperate in Oyster Bay, NY where she met her next husband Dr. Leonard Foxhound Koop."
This book should not be read in bed or on a full stomach.
740 PARK.......2007-01-27
This book is the very definition of over rated..how on earth do you have a book like this and no images of these supposed fantastic apartments, I suggest a book on the architects of this building, Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, now that will show you the famous Rockefeller apartment, and fyi, it's a fantastic book, this book on the other hand is inane dribble...what a bore.
Amazing.......2007-01-10
One of the most fascinating and classy books I have ever read so far. Read it, you won't regret it.
Average customer rating:
- A little dry, but important
- Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...
- The Emperor's Nakedness Finally Exposed
- Mafia Transvestite Mayor Sir Rudy Knight of the British Empire
- Well documented, fast read, distressing but not surprising
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Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11
Wayne Barrett , and
Dan Collins
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ASIN: 0060536608
Release Date: 2006-08-22 |
Book Description
"Grand Illusion" is the definitive report on 9/11 in New York –– the true story of what happened that day and how the city fought to recover afterwards.
"Grand Illusion" is the definitive report on 9/11 in New York –– the true story of what happened that day and how the city fought to recover afterwards. It also traces the comeback trail of a city that has never faced a fiercer fire or stiffer wind, discovering survivors who rebuild neighborhoods, heroes who rescue economies.
Beyond the historical account, the book centers on the first clear–eyed evaluation of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's role before, during, and after the disaster. While the pictures of a soot–covered Giuliani making his way through the streets became very much a part of his personal mythology, they were also a symbol of one of his greatest failures. A more sensibly located emergency command post would have kept him behind the scenes, but it would have given the city a functioning, state–of–the–art operations center that might have averted some of the calamitous decisions made that day. And the failures weren't limited to iconography. The mayor's performance, though marked by personal courage and grace under fire, followed two terms in office pursuing an utterly wrongheaded approach to the city's security against terrorism.
Grand Illusion will serve as an indispensible corrective to the rough draft of history rushed out in the wake of 9/11. Turning the mythology on its head, it reveals how Giuliani, far from being the savior of the day, was directly responsible for many of the city's inabilities to cope with the crisis. It also demonstrates how Giuliani has himself revised history, inaccurately casting himself as prescient terror hawk when in fact he ignored repeated warnings, too distracted by pet projects and turf wars to attend to vital precautions.
While this book provides an unflinching portrayal of what happened on and after September 11, it will not leave readers hopeless. Instead, it will serve as the first authoritive history – reassessing and recounting the victims, the villains, and the heroes – of the pivotal day in our recent history.
Customer Reviews:
A little dry, but important.......2007-09-03
I've been following Rudy for some time now, especially since talking with New Yorkers who despise the guy (some of whom voted for him once or more!) I read little bits of "America's Mayor," here and there, saw "Guiliani Time" when it was still at the theatres, etc. One thing I realized about Rudy is that, face it, 9/11 made him as much as it made bin Laden (of whom few would have known if he hadn't been responsible for that terrible crime).
To be perfectly honest, though, the book is a little dry. It covers important material, i.e., what Rudy--whose presidential race depends completely on the perception of Rudy's "leadership" after the 9/11 disaster--really did related to that event.
It covers the 1993 "warning" of the World Trade Center disaster, and what Rudy DIDN'T learn from, or respond to that; Rudy's relationships with companies that could have improved the communication between New York's police and fire departments; Rudy's cronyism; Rudy's ruling by intimidation. There's a lot there, and it's all quite well documented, unfortunately for Rudy.
For some bizarre reason, it seems to get more interesting as you proceed into the text. So if you start, get tired and wonder, Can I keep going with this detail?, you'll find yourself being more fascinated in the second half of the book. I did anyway.
Then, in the final chapter, the authors essentially ask questions. They do give Rudy some credit for degrees of "leadership" after 9/11. But they suggest that, based on all the information compiled throughout the book, he could have done much, much more, and many lives could have been saved.
If you're mesmerized by Rudy's alleged leadership capacity, and think he might therefore make a great president, you should read this really. It may bust your bubble, but it'll challenge you as to your admiration for a politician of limited moral capacity in addition to all those despicable traits I've already mentioned.
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall..........2007-08-21
Grand Illusion is a biographical sketch of a man who would be President of the United States.
What additionally complicates the work is that the man is Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City on September 11, 2001. As such, he will forever be remembered by television viewers as 'the man who walked the world through the immediate aftermath of 9/11.'
Had he been mayor somewhere else, or if there had been no terrorist attack, or even if television had not yet been invented, the fact that he is presently running for President of the United States would be the story.
Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, the journalists that fielded the information gathered, with the help of a host of volunteers, paid, freelance and the committed, into the report of the person of Mr. Giuliani are to be commended for their work.
Should they make money from the endeavor, as some have suggested was their primary goal, they will have earned it. Lest they become famous for their efforts, such notoriety will bestow on them as much tragedy as triumph.
Approbation is deserving because they willingly submitted themselves to the labrynthian wastes known as modern American politics extrapolated through the horror of monstrosity terrorized and brought near in the genius that is television.
Merely a few chapters into 'Grand Illusion' this reader was already counting the pages till the end, because he knew the story was going to get worse, and he didn't want to discover the degree.
Interpretation is honed by individual constraints. Perspective appears according to one's position. And from outside the loop, no that is misleading, from another galaxy unacquainted with the loop, from the other side of the outer rings of Narnia, the book begins to read like another report of insanity come to order.
Giuliani is indeed, like most of us on the planet, laboring under many illusions, not all of them Grand. Sadness at the tale, however, is exponentially increased as one begins to perceive that Giuliani is only a host among peers. And then the cloud darkens as the reader inescapably begins to realize the disease goes outward not inward.
The unfortunate 19 were proclaiming that 'God is Great' {Allah Akbar} as they plunged their magnificent missiles into history.
The President of the United States has been castigated because he didn't stand up and scream in a room filled with children upon being told the World Trade Centers had been attacked. Had it been a Hollywood movie, he would have done.
In fact, if some unemployed someone had a camera, they would have made a movie about 9/ll showing how stupid Americans are, and missed Giuliani's uncoached march around the devastation that beautiful autumn morning turned nightmare.
In a Nightline report in the early spring of 2001 many leaders in America were noted suggesting that a terrorist attack in this country was not a matter of 'if' but 'when.'
That is also the present line of thought for the future as this review is being entered. What can be seen in the mirror, besides one's own reflection.
So the work of Mr. Barrett and Mr. Collins, et al, is invaluable. Not for historical purposes only. While there is yet time, perhaps Americans can begin to come together.
And the manual sits before us. Read and learn. Do the good and avoid the other.
Giuliani is reported in the book to even have taken a stab at linking with Jesus. Now that's not a bad idea from any direction. Jesus always reveals not only hypocrisy, but also truth.
This book goes beyone the study of one man's life. It is a slice of the meanderings of American society as it sifts for reality.
Before 9/11, no one could have imagined it, and couldn't believe anyone who suggested it, though there were many. Giuliani's efforts at mustering a preparedness plan fell short because there was no reality to fall back on.
Giuliani's consideration of Jesus bridges the troubled waters. Unlike the rest of us and Mr. Giuliani, Jesus truly can and shall handle the future.
And that is no grand illusion.
TL Farley,
author,
When Now Becomes Too Late {prophecy}
Distant Reaches {adventure}
The Emperor's Nakedness Finally Exposed.......2007-05-06
This book does an excellent job of examining how Giuliani, now running as the President of 9/11, and an expert on Homeland Security, dealt with the challenge of preparing New York City to cope with another terrorist attack, after the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. The authors' conclusion, heavily sourced and thoroughly argued, is that Giuliani failed to do much of anything to make the city safer. Despite all that was learned about the city's inadequate response in '93, Giuliani failed to get the firefighters new walkie-talkies, so they could communicate with the police, failed to establish a chain of command in the event of an emergency, and, most inexplicably, built, at great expense, his Emergency Command Post at the Trade Center itself, across the street from the '93 attack, rendering it useless on 9/11. These and a host of other mistakes almost certainly led to significant loss of life on 9/11, and seriously undermine Giuliani's claim to be the man we should trust with the nation's security. This is surely a must-read for journalists, and for anyone who wants to understand the events of that horrible day, and the character of this man who is running for President.
Mafia Transvestite Mayor Sir Rudy Knight of the British Empire.......2007-03-17
Good book. Gets some of the basic facts out to the public, which is essential to writing history. Buy this book for your library. Sandbagged more than a little on the 9/11scam, but that's okay, since others have done that job very well.
The radio repeaters at WTC were intentionally switched off, which was no accident. The 9/11 911 tapes were not censored for anyone's "privacy", but to conceal evidence of pre-planted bombs, especially WTC 7, and to reduce the chance of lynching Queen Rudy and Queen Bush. Destroying the evidence of Thermate by shipping the steel to Communist China, and burying the bodyparts in Fresh Kills Landfill, can only be explained by the fact that Giuliani, Silverstein and Bush are the terrorist bombers. Giuliani was not a bumbling opportunist on 9/11, but a willing perpetraitor, who has been rewarded by knighthood with Bush's trillionaire 19th cousin, the German Queen of England and Babylon.
Rudy is a stalking horse Manchurian candidate, to distract the media mafia from reporting on Congressman Dr Ron Paul MD.
Collins of course is one of the top 13 Illuminati crime families, so perhaps there's a little controlled opposition going on with publication and co-writing of this book. Judging his bio, he should know all about Rudy's mob ties and 9/11 Truth, since his corporations let the Truth slip out.
I'm glad this book wasn't printed upside down and backwards, like Professor Barrett's previous book, which was still excellent, if you can find a copy. That book is what permanently removed Mob Queen Rudia from the political process, resulting in his potential choice as Bush Jr's top spook at CIA secret police in charge of kidnapping, torture, planting WMDs (as Barrett points on in his latest book, since Rudy now works for Saddam's WMD law firm), and of course terror bombings:
"The father he celebrated so often was a pathological predator. His extended family harbored a junkie, a crooked cop and a murky mob wing. He dissolved his first marriage with a lie so he could appear Catholic when he remarried. The very personal jewelry his first wife found in her bedroom wasn't hers...."
-Wayne Barrett, "Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Guiliani", chapter: "All in the Family: Crooks, Cops and a Junkie"
And in related news:
"Mayor Giuliani -- a former federal prosecutor who won notice for 'pursuing' the Mafia -- had relatives linked to organized crime, including a mobbed-up cousin who was gunned down by FBI agents in 1977, a new book says. Lewis D'Avanzo, a son of the mayor's uncle and a guest at Giuliani's first wedding in 1968, was a 'ruthless and widely feared mob associate' who headed a massive stolen car ring, according to FBI documents and interviews detailed in Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, by Village Voice senior editor Wayne Barrett. Due in stores next week, the book sketches a largely unflattering portrait of the clan, depicting his father, Harold, as a hothead and the 'muscle' behind a brother-in-law's loansharking operation, run out of a Brooklyn bar. Along with cracking heads, it says the mayor's father served time in state prison for a stickup, rarely held an on-the-books job and once was a gunman in a mob shootout in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. According to the book, Giuliani's cousin Lewis D'Avanzo was known as "Steve the Blond" and listed as armed and dangerous in FBI bulletins. His criminal record included a 10-year federal sentence for the armed hijacking of a truck loaded with $240,000 worth of mercury. The book alleges that he was suspected of taking part in several murders. D'Avanzo was gunned down by the FBI in October 1977, when he tried to run down an agent after being stopped on a warrant that accused him and two associates of transporting 100 stolen luxury cars. Quoting an unnamed friend of D'Avanzo, the book describes a 1962 shootout pitting a local mobster against the mayor's father and Leo D'Avanzo, Lewis D'Avanzo's father. The book says Leo was later sanctioned by mob bosses for shooting at a Mafia member. Leo D'Avanzo, who was known in family circles as a black sheep, ran loansharking and gambling operations out of a Brooklyn bar where Giuliani's father worked as a bartender. In his role as debt collector, his father 'broke legs, smashed kneecaps, crunched noses.' Joan Ellen D'Avanzo, a cousin who at one time lived with Giuliani when he was a youngster, became a drug addict who was beaten to death in 1973 at age 34. Her cause of death was listed as undetermined, but several family members said she was murdered."
-Michael R. Blood, New York Daily News, "Rudy's Kin Tied to Mob", July 06, 2000
"America's Mayor' Rudy Giuliani will lead the day with his presentation 'Leadership in Difficult Times', followed by the amazing story of Captain Dennis Fitch and the crew of United Airlines Flight 232. Mike Zafirovski of Motorola, Inc. speaks about Personal Security & Public Safety Technology.' John Fulton's 25 years in the intelligence community has contributed to his recognition as an expert in risk & threat response analysis, scenario gaming, and strategic planning. He is on staff for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), currently serving as Chief of the Strategic War Gaming Division of the National Reconnaissance Office, and as a member of U.S. Joint Forces Command's Project Alpha - a prestigious "think tank" for advanced concepts related to such issues as homeland security. He formerly served as the mission director for our nation's satellite imagery program as well as replacing Army Astronaut Same Gemar as the Director of the National Security Space Master Plan for the U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Space Communities under the auspices of the Deputy UnderSecretary of Defense (Space). His counter-terrorism and homeland security responsibilities include advising the Director Central Intelligence Staff for Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshall's Office, and collaboration with the National Security Council."
-National Law Enforcement and Security Institute, Homeland Security: America's Leadership Challenge, September 2002
Well documented, fast read, distressing but not surprising.......2007-03-11
There are so many lessons to be drawn from the events of September 11th. This book does a good job of outlining some of them. The "heckuva job Brownie" school of leadership was not limited to FEMA. Hacks, political supporters and hangers-on were rewarded with appointments to positions of power in emergency services. This might have gone unnoticed except for a disaster which called for competence at the time and begged scrutiny after the fact. The failure to play by the rules throughout the history of the WTC, intersecting with greed and politics as usual - in skirting safety regulations and rewarding hapless coat-holders - is the story here. Rudy is a pedestrian leader and a consumate huckster. Shame on us for being fooled.
The authors do a good job of presenting technical info regarding radio communications snafus that were avoidable and centered in sweetheart deals. They also do a good job of capturing the essence of many of the players in this tragedy who were just not up to the tasks thrust upon them. Little in their histories suggest that they would have been.
Now that Rudy wants to be president, partisans will cry that this is an ad hominem attack...but the truth is an absolute defense and Rudy simply can't mount it. Read this for the facts. The ample footnotes give the reader an opportunity to test skepticism.
Amazon.com
In 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, New York Times writers Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn vividly recreate the 102-minute span between the moment Flight 11 hit the first Twin Tower on the morning of September 11, 2001, and the moment the second tower collapsed, all from the perspective of those inside the buildings--the 12,000 who escaped, and the 2,749 who did not. It's becoming easier, years later, to forget the profound, visceral responses the Trade Center attacks evoked in the days and weeks following September 11. Using hundreds of interviews, countless transcripts of radio and phone communications, and exhaustive research, Dwyer and Flynn bring that flood of responses back--from heartbreak to bewilderment to fury. The randomness of death and survival is heartbreaking. One man, in the second tower, survived because he bolted from his desk the moment he heard the first plane hit; another, who stayed at his desk on the 97th floor, called his wife in his final moments to tell her to cancel a surprise trip he had planned. In many cases, the deaths of those who survived the initial attacks but were killed by the collapse of the towers were tragically avoidable. Building code exemptions, communication breakdowns between firefighters and police, and policies put in place by building management to keep everyone inside the towers in emergencies led, the authors argue, to the deaths of hundreds who might otherwise have survived. September 11 is by now both familiar and nearly mythological. Dwyer and Flynn's accomplishment is recounting that day's events in a style that is stirring, thorough, and refreshingly understated. --Erica C. Barnett
Book Description
At 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, 14,000 people were inside the twin towers. Over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with rescuers and survivors, thousands of pages of oral histories, and countless phone, e-mail, and emergency radio transcripts, New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn tell the story of September 11 from the inside looking out, weaving together the stories of ordinary men and women into an epic account of struggle, determination, and grace. Hailed immediately upon its hardcover publication as the definitive account of that terrible morning, 102 Minutes now contains a new Afterword that incorporates powerful firsthand material, including tapes and documents, that Dwyer and Flynn recently obtained after more than three years of litigation with the city of New York. Eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and translated into a dozen languages, 102 Minutes is a gripping narrative that is also investigative reporting of the first rankin a class by itself, according to Readers Digest. Dwyer and Flynn reveal the decisions, both good and bad, that proved to be the difference between life and death on a day that changed America forever.
Customer Reviews:
The Most Compelling Book I Have Read On 9/11.......2007-10-08
This book was more than I ever imagined it would be. I thought it would be a more technical and tedious account of the horrible events of that September morning; man was I surprised whe I began to read this wonderfully written book. The stories are compelling and show you how people can come together in the most hedious of circumstances. I was blown away at the depth of the reseach into the events of that day, and even found myself learning more about this tragedy than I knew before hand. My this book illustrate to everyone the power that the average Joe has when it comes to caring and helping his fellow human being. The heroes of that day are not only the NYPD or the FDNY, but many of the doomed individuals in the buildings of the World Trade Center.
Making it real.......2007-09-20
I have never been to New York. Watching the ongoing events of 9/11 had a very surrealistic overtone. It was real, yet it wasn't. This book is the first of the several that I have read, that really "put you there". Reading the description of a person actually standing on the street, trying to comprehend what they were witnessing, really brought it home for me. It includes a diagram of the building (including where the planes hit) that helps the reader to realize how many people were "without hope" from the very onset of the strike.
If you only read one book about the events of 9/11, this is the book.
An American Tragedy.......2007-09-17
As a native New Yorker who in childhood watched the Twin Towers rise to dominate the skyline, I was like many other people who considered the buildings two soulless gray monoliths. We called them the boxes the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building came in. And certainly, in their singular dual angularity, they lacked either the graceful Art Deco aestheticism of the Chrysler Building or the reassuring solidity of the Empire State Building. Many were the times I wished the architect, Minoru Yamasaki, had had even a smidgen of artistic creativity. The unrelieved gray bulk of the towers (charitably described by New York Times reporters/authors Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn as being a very Wall Street apropos "pinstripe") was broken only at top and bottom by stylized gothic windows and by the exterior banding of the sky lobbies. I set one of my (early and unpublished) novels in the North Tower as a symbol of the single-minded preoccupations of the Me Decade. In white, the buildings might have seemed carved in alabaster, or perhaps an enclosed rooftop arboretum might have added charm---who can say? But as the years passed, the Towers took on personalities of their own as the World Trade Center complex grew and throve, and like all real New Yorkers I developed an affection for these sentinels who seemed to anchor Manhattan Island to the sky like some kind of bizarre hydrofoil afloat at the juncture of the harbor and the rivers.
And like all real New Yorkers I was stunned by the news of their destruction. I remember just where I was---I had driven a friend to attend Traffic School in Fort Lauderdale. She was dutifully taking a written test when another friend called me on my cell:
"The World Trade Center was attacked."
"That's old news."
"What are you talking about?"
"What are YOU talking about? It happened in 1993."
"No. Not that. I mean this morning."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
"Go find a television."
And I did, and stood there horrified, watching as the Towers---where my friends and relatives worked---dissolved into dust. Staggering outside, I approached a stranger who hadn't heard the news. Although I don't remember his exact words I'm still angry at his comments about the rich brats who deserved what they got, leavened with a little antisemitism. To this day, I wonder where that idiot has gotten himself to. No place good, I'll wager.
The nightmare of the news---the planes flying smack into the Towers, the Towers burning and then collapsing in upon themselves, the dust storm that blanketed my hometown, the sight of rescue workers DIGGING WITH THEIR BARE HANDS in a fruitless attempt to find survivors---all have left their mark upon me. It has only been recently---and it is now six years later---that I can watch programs and read books about that awful day. And I cry.
102 MINUTES is Dwyer's and Flynn's incredibly well done recounting of the destruction of the Towers on that bright late summer morning. Strictly a story of small heroisms amid the larger tragedy, Dwyer and Flynn place us eeriely INSIDE the Towers during the fateful hour and a half and some between the first attack and the ultimate destruction of the WTC. Dwyer and Flynn have obviously listened to thousands of man-hours of recorded 911 calls, read tens of thousands of pages of transcripts, and interviewed scores of people connected with Nine Eleven and the Towers in general in order to present us with this memoir and memoriam. It would be tempting to say that 102 MINUTES is definitive, but given the tens of thousands of stories that make up that day, no one book may ever be definitive.
In the midst of the "untold story of the fight to survive inside the Twin Towers" Dwyer and Flynn also find time to take the authorities to well-deserved task: We discover that the Rockefellers (the political and economic midwives of the WTC in the 1960s) managed to force extensive liberalizations of the building codes through the New York Legislature just before ground was broken. Thus the Towers rose with untested architectural modifications to the steel infrastructure, fewer and non-fireproofed stairwells, and other Code-beating changes that made these most modern buildings completed in 1974 less capable of withstanding structural trauma than the Empire State Building, completed in 1933 (and remember, it was hit by a plane in 1945). All in the name of maximizing rentable floor space, protections that might have saved lives were simply deemed unneccessary. Instead, the builders relied on "Titanic Syndrome"---they're the biggest, they'll withstand anything thrown at them. Truly, no buildings in the world could withstand being struck by jets flying at 550 MPH, but perhaps they needn't have collapsed so utterly.
Dwyer and Flynn do not spare the New York City bureaucracies---The agelong enmities and service rivalries between The Finest and The Bravest hampered effective action. This takes nothing away from the actions of individual First Responders, but the lack of coordination between NYPD, FDNY, EMS and PAPD (the independent Port Authority Police Department who had first jurisdiction within the WTC) undoubtedly cost lives. People were variously told to evacuate, to stay put, some sent back inside, and many given no direction at all. Communications breakdowns meant that occupants, police, fire, and other authorities all essentially had no idea what was going on, even after the South Tower collapsed suddenly. The lack of communications can be put down to the moribund Mayor's Committee (established in 1993) that was to have overseen interservice activity---but "America's Mayor" Guiliani disregarded its existence, much as he has continued to slight the needs of the injured and ill among The Finest and The Bravest who lived through that day.
Little (but enough) is mentioned of the planes, the hijackers, Osama Bin Laden, The Pentagon or Shanksville. This is very much a "local" history of the event, and is very much spiced with the spirit of the Big Apple.
New York is a city that has grieved, but Dwyer and Flynn leave us with the realization that New York, New Yorkers, Americans---and indeed all people of spirit---will endure. The world changed ineradicably on September 11, 2001 (just as it did on December 7, 1941), but it is still a world where life goes on.
An essential read.
Harrowing, Tragic, and an Indictment of the Port Authority.......2007-09-15
Poor design. Complacency. Poor communications. These are elements in the 9/11 tragedy at the World Trade Center that caused or contributed to thousands of deaths. Read 102 MINUTES to see how these factors affected ordinary people, heroic or trying to survive, who were caught in this nightmare.
But for readers like me, who work in office towers built in the 1970's, the fire-safety issues raised in 102 MINUTES are also disturbing. Just for the record, I work in a 40 story glass tower with 10 elevators in the core of building and only two fire stairs, which are positioned directly behind the elevators.
For me, the lessons of 102 MINUTES include: 1)Your fire safety director doesn't know what's going on so question the announcements made over the PA system. 2) Find a stairwell and go down through the fire zone to safety; don't wait... there is no roof top rescue. 3) If the building experiences a trauma, such airplane impact, it may lose water pressure. This is bad news, since office towers are designed to put out fires through their sprinkler systems. In a tower fire, firefighters are on rescue missions only. 4) Smoke hoods and executive parachutes are not silly ideas.
102 Horrible Minutes.......2007-08-24
102 minutes. Hard as that may be to believe, that's all the time that elapsed between the moment that Flight 11 struck the first Twin Tower and the instant that the second tower collapsed. I expect that all of us, at some time or another, have imagined ourselves trapped in one of those buildings and wondered what our struggle for survival would have required of us. We will never forget those horrible images of people falling or jumping from the upper floors of the Towers, nor the pictures and stories of the heroes who were everywhere that day.
At times I found 102 Minutes, by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, to be painful reading. The book took me much longer to finish than I anticipated because I could only read it for a few minutes at a time before having to put it down for something less depressing. In actual fact, I read the book over a period of several months, finally finishing it last night.
Through hundreds of survivor interviews and countless hours reading transcripts of telephone and radio conversations, the authors were able to recreate much of what happened in the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11, 2001. Much of what went on in the buildings was truly inspirational, with countless heroes to be
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