The Only Plane in the Sky: The Oral History of 9/11 on the 20th Anniversary

Description

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Incredibly evocative and compelling." - The Washington Post "The most moving and chilling oral history you will read." - The Times "Astonishing book about an astonishing, terrifying atrocity, relived in real time by those who were there. I read it in one sitting & was utterly gripped from start to finish." - Piers Morgan "The most vivid portrait of 9/11 I've ever read."- Mike Morell, former deputy director of the CIA ** Updated 20th Anniversary edition with additional content ** The Only Plane in the Sky is nothing less than the first comprehensive oral history of 9/11, drawing on transcripts, declassified documents and interviews from nearly 500 people. While there has been so much published about 9/11 over the last two decades, the most important book has been missing until now: a 360-degree account of the day told through the voices of the people who experienced it. In New York, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable chaos at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker beneath the White House, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice watch for incoming planes on radar. In the offices of the Pentagon, top officials feel the violent tremor as their headquarters come under attack. Poignant and powerful, The Only Plane in the Sky captures the event that shocked the world from the people who lived it. Read the true stories of the father and son working on separate floors in the North Tower; the firefighter who rushes to the scene to search for his wife; the telephone operator who keeps her promise to share a passenger's last words with his family; the chaplain who sacrifices his own life to perform last rites as the Twin Towers collapse; the teachers evacuating terrified children from schools mere blocks from the World Trade Center; the generals at the Pentagon who break down and weep when they are barred from rushing into the burning building to try and rescue their colleagues. All in their own words. The Only Plane in the Sky is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives, 20 years ago.

Garrett M. Graff, a magazine journalist and historian, has spent more than a dozen years covering politics, technology, and national security. He's written for publications from Wired to The New York Times, and he has served as the editor of two of Washington's most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine. His books include Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself-While the Rest of Us Die, The Threat Matrix: The FBI War in the Age of Global Terror and The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House.