American Ground, Unbuilding the World Trade CenterAmerican Ground, Unbuilding the World Trade Center
Title rated 3.85 out of 5 stars, based on 10 ratings(10 ratings)
Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, First edition, Available .Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, First edition, Available . Offered in 0 more formatsTraces the monumental efforts of the cleanup crew at the site of the World Trade Center collapse, discussing the physical details of the collapse and deconstruction, citing the political factors that contributed and documenting the human side of the effort. 40,000 first printing.
Traces the monumental efforts of the cleanup crew at the World Trade Center site, and discusses physical details of the collapse and deconstruction, the political factors that contributed, and the human side of the effort.
American Ground is the story - until now untold - of the people who responded to the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Within days, William Langewiesche made his way into the innermost recesses of the collapse. By virtue of the integrity and excellence of his previous work, he quickly secured unique, unrestricted, around-the-clock access to the site, the rescue workers and laborers there, and the meetings of city officials, engineers, construction companies, and consultants. Throughout the urgent and often dangerous efforts of the months that followed, he became the only writer to be "embedded" in the World Trade Center - that is, to live virtually night and day among the unbuilding crew as they brought order to an instance of chaos unprecedented on American soil.
American Ground is a tour of this intense, ephemeral world and those who inhabited it. Langewiesche describes the physical details of the collapse and the ensuing deconstruction of the ruins, capturing in the process the human dramas that were the aftershock. In this inner world, decisions were as spontaneous as the shifting of the piles of debris, and the consequences of failure or mistake might mean the death of hundreds of workers, or the flooding of a large part of underground Manhattan. As the difficult work of extracting the rubble and the thousands of dead buried there got under way, and firefighters, police officers, widows, bureaucrats, and profiteers attempted to claim the work - and the tragedy - as their own, the emotional and political implications loomed large as well.
02 The unsung-and revealing-story of the Herculean effort to finish the dismantling that terrorism began
Unlike any other reporter, William Langewiesche has had unrestricted access to Ground Zero and the people involved in the cleanup. He has literally followed in the footsteps of engineers, "deconstruction" workers, firemen, and city officials as they tackle the mind-numbing task of bringing order to an instance of chaos unprecedented on our soil.
American Ground is a tour of the interlocking circles of this Dantesque world. With the "knowledge and passion as well as ...careful eloquence" for which his reportage is known (New York Times Book Review), Langewiesche anatomizes the physical details of the collapse and deconstruction, capturing in the process the contest of politics and personality that were its aftershock. At the center of the book is the team of engineers, many of them instrumental in building the towers, who now must collaborate in the sad task of disassembling them. Their responses are as dramatic and unpredictable as the shifting pile of rubble and the surrounding "slurry wall" that constantly threatens to collapse, potentially flooding a large part of underground Manhattan. They are also emotional and territorial, as firemen, police, widows, and officials attempt to claim the tragedy-and the difficult work of extracting the rubble and the thousands of dead buried there-as their own.
In all of these aspects-its vociferousness, spontaneity, ingenuity, and fundamental democracy-Langewiesche reveals the story of the deconstruction to be uniquely American, and harshly inspiring. He has constructed an account that will endure against the events of September 11, 2001 as John Hersey's Hiroshima stands in relation to August 1945.
The unsung-and revealing-story of the Herculean effort to finish the dismantling that terrorism began
Unlike any other reporter, William Langewiesche has had unrestricted access to Ground Zero and the people involved in the cleanup. He has literally followed in the footsteps of engineers, "deconstruction" workers, firemen, and city officials as they tackle the mind-numbing task of bringing order to an instance of chaos unprecedented on our soil.
American Ground is a tour of the interlocking circles of this Dantesque world. With the "knowledge and passion as well as ...careful eloquence" for which his reportage is known (New York Times Book Review), Langewiesche anatomizes the physical details of the collapse and deconstruction, capturing in the process the contest of politics and personality that were its aftershock. At the center of the book is the team of engineers, many of them instrumental in building the towers, who now must collaborate in the sad task of disassembling them. Their responses are as dramatic and unpredictable as the shifting pile of rubble and the surrounding "slurry wall" that constantly threatens to collapse, potentially flooding a large part of underground Manhattan. They are also emotional and territorial, as firemen, police, widows, and officials attempt to claim the tragedy-and the difficult work of extracting the rubble and the thousands of dead buried there-as their own.
In all of these aspects-its vociferousness, spontaneity, ingenuity, and fundamental democracy-Langewiesche reveals the story of the deconstruction to be uniquely American, and harshly inspiring. He has constructed an account that will endure against the events of September 11, 2001 as John Hersey's Hiroshima stands in relation to August 1945.
Traces the monumental efforts of the cleanup crew at the World Trade Center site, and discusses physical details of the collapse and deconstruction, the political factors that contributed, and the human side of the effort.
American Ground is the story - until now untold - of the people who responded to the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Within days, William Langewiesche made his way into the innermost recesses of the collapse. By virtue of the integrity and excellence of his previous work, he quickly secured unique, unrestricted, around-the-clock access to the site, the rescue workers and laborers there, and the meetings of city officials, engineers, construction companies, and consultants. Throughout the urgent and often dangerous efforts of the months that followed, he became the only writer to be "embedded" in the World Trade Center - that is, to live virtually night and day among the unbuilding crew as they brought order to an instance of chaos unprecedented on American soil.
American Ground is a tour of this intense, ephemeral world and those who inhabited it. Langewiesche describes the physical details of the collapse and the ensuing deconstruction of the ruins, capturing in the process the human dramas that were the aftershock. In this inner world, decisions were as spontaneous as the shifting of the piles of debris, and the consequences of failure or mistake might mean the death of hundreds of workers, or the flooding of a large part of underground Manhattan. As the difficult work of extracting the rubble and the thousands of dead buried there got under way, and firefighters, police officers, widows, bureaucrats, and profiteers attempted to claim the work - and the tragedy - as their own, the emotional and political implications loomed large as well.
02 The unsung-and revealing-story of the Herculean effort to finish the dismantling that terrorism began
Unlike any other reporter, William Langewiesche has had unrestricted access to Ground Zero and the people involved in the cleanup. He has literally followed in the footsteps of engineers, "deconstruction" workers, firemen, and city officials as they tackle the mind-numbing task of bringing order to an instance of chaos unprecedented on our soil.
American Ground is a tour of the interlocking circles of this Dantesque world. With the "knowledge and passion as well as ...careful eloquence" for which his reportage is known (New York Times Book Review), Langewiesche anatomizes the physical details of the collapse and deconstruction, capturing in the process the contest of politics and personality that were its aftershock. At the center of the book is the team of engineers, many of them instrumental in building the towers, who now must collaborate in the sad task of disassembling them. Their responses are as dramatic and unpredictable as the shifting pile of rubble and the surrounding "slurry wall" that constantly threatens to collapse, potentially flooding a large part of underground Manhattan. They are also emotional and territorial, as firemen, police, widows, and officials attempt to claim the tragedy-and the difficult work of extracting the rubble and the thousands of dead buried there-as their own.
In all of these aspects-its vociferousness, spontaneity, ingenuity, and fundamental democracy-Langewiesche reveals the story of the deconstruction to be uniquely American, and harshly inspiring. He has constructed an account that will endure against the events of September 11, 2001 as John Hersey's Hiroshima stands in relation to August 1945.
The unsung-and revealing-story of the Herculean effort to finish the dismantling that terrorism began
Unlike any other reporter, William Langewiesche has had unrestricted access to Ground Zero and the people involved in the cleanup. He has literally followed in the footsteps of engineers, "deconstruction" workers, firemen, and city officials as they tackle the mind-numbing task of bringing order to an instance of chaos unprecedented on our soil.
American Ground is a tour of the interlocking circles of this Dantesque world. With the "knowledge and passion as well as ...careful eloquence" for which his reportage is known (New York Times Book Review), Langewiesche anatomizes the physical details of the collapse and deconstruction, capturing in the process the contest of politics and personality that were its aftershock. At the center of the book is the team of engineers, many of them instrumental in building the towers, who now must collaborate in the sad task of disassembling them. Their responses are as dramatic and unpredictable as the shifting pile of rubble and the surrounding "slurry wall" that constantly threatens to collapse, potentially flooding a large part of underground Manhattan. They are also emotional and territorial, as firemen, police, widows, and officials attempt to claim the tragedy-and the difficult work of extracting the rubble and the thousands of dead buried there-as their own.
In all of these aspects-its vociferousness, spontaneity, ingenuity, and fundamental democracy-Langewiesche reveals the story of the deconstruction to be uniquely American, and harshly inspiring. He has constructed an account that will endure against the events of September 11, 2001 as John Hersey's Hiroshima stands in relation to August 1945.
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- New York : North Point Press, 2002.
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