The 9/11 Story
Explore the powerful 9/11 story through a curated list of gripping books. Discover firsthand accounts, historical analyses, and personal narratives that reveal the impact of this pivotal event in history.
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Against All Enemies
by Richard A. Clarke
Richard Clarke has been one of America's foremost experts on counterterrorism measures for more than two decades. Here he tells the disturbing truth about the war on terror.
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The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition)
by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States
The eagerly awaited release of The 9/11 Commission Report has caused an avalanche of press coverage, but nearly all of the media commentary has omitted one important attribute of this instant bestseller: its readability. For once, our government has produced a report designed for the public that it purports to serve. By comparison, the Starr Commission Report was a confusing hodgepodge cobbled together for lawyer clones, and the Warren Commission Report resembled a hastily constructed mountain of data. By contrast, The 9/11 Commission Report is a model of narrative clarity. Reading it, one gains a better sense of every stage and dimension of these truly terrifying events; from the rise of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to the collapse of the World Trade Center and its aftermath. Like a full-throttled detective story thrust into real life, it renders the near misses and muffed opportunities that enabled the plot to reach fruition. With sensationalizing or overgeneralizing, the report s authors have given us a document that illuminates the planning and possible countermeasures to these terrible acts. Every American should read this book: After all, we are its target audience and its sponsors. R. N. Wilson
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American Jihad
by Steven Emerson
Leading the second wave of post 9/11 terrorist books, American Jihad reveals that America is rampant with Islamic terrorist networks and sleeper cells and Emerson, the expert on them, explains just how close they are to each of us.
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The Age of Sacred Terror
by Daniel Benjamin
Winner of the 2004 Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations From two of the worldās foremost experts on the new terrorism comes the deļ¬nitive book on the rise of al-Qaeda and Americaās efforts to combat the most innovative and dangerous terrorist group ever. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon trace the growth of radical Islam from its medieval origins and, drawing on their years of counter-terrorism work at the National Security Council, provide essential insights into the thinking of Usama bin Laden and his followers. With unique authority, they analyze why America was unable to defend itself against this revolutionary threat on September 11, 2001, why bin Ladenās apocalyptic creed is gaining ground in the Islamic world, and what the United States must do to stop the new terror.
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Among the Heroes
by Jere Longman
On the evening of September 14, as the sun set over the flag-draped county courthouse in Somerset, Pennsylvania, fifteen hundred mourners gathered together as Governor Tom Ridge presided over a memorial to the passengers and crew of United Flight 93. In the hushed twilight, amid the toiling of bells, a candle was lit for each victim, and the flames were used to light smaller candles held by townspeople attending the service. The hijackers had failed in their mission, Ridge said. They had not destroyed our spirit. They had rekindled it. By fighting back against the terrorists, the passengers and crew had undoubtedly saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. "They sacrificed themselves for others -- the ultimate sacrifice. What appears to be a charred, smolerdering hole in the ground," said the governor, "is truly and really a monument to heroism." Of the four horrific hijackings on September 11, Flight 93, which crashed into a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, resonates as one of epic resistance. A number of passengers phoned relatives and others on the ground to tell them of the hijacking and what they planned to do about it. Their battle to take back the plane brought consolation to countless confused and grief-stricken Americans. At a time when the United States appeared defenseless against an unfamiliar foe, the gallant passengers and crew of Flight 93 provided for many Americans a measure of victory in the midst of unthinkable defeat. Together, they seemingly accomplished what all the security guards and soldiers, military pilots and government officials, could not -- they thwarted the terrorists, sacrificing their own lives so that others might live. The culmination of hundreds of interviews and months of investigation, Among the Heroes is the definitive story of the courageous men and women aboard Flight 93, and of the day that forever changed the way Americans view the world and themselves.
