Today is the 19th anniversary of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001. How it has been nearly two decades since that tragic morning is unfathomable. On this day, for our flashback recommendations, we’re going to suggest stories written about September 11. It’s a difficult day to recall, but it’s important, as with all major events in history, to keep alive the memories of the people who perished, and those who were left behind to recover.
J: I was a college student, working at my internship that morning when someone in a nearby cubicle announced that a plane had struck one of the towers. I imagined a small sightseeing plane or a helicopter. Hitting the internet, I found that to be untrue. Even as the morning and the events unfolded, I’m not sure I understood just then the magnitude with which it would change our lives. Soon after, someone said to me that this would be my generation’s Pearl Harbor, or Kennedy Assassination – we would always remember where we were and what we did that day. And it’s true. I’ve never forgotten how I felt riding the bus through East Lansing, watching the sky, freaked out by the eerie silence all around, trying to get back to my apartment, reaching out to my mom for reassurance, reluctantly joining my classmates in our lectures, but finding comfort in not being alone.
I remember being shocked when the time came that incoming HS freshman would be the first to study the event as history that happened before they were born. I was reminded, as I often am, of the importance of books, recordings, primary sources and our own recollections, that can help them understand what it was like to be a witness to that terrible tragedy.
K: I, too, was a college student, a much older college student, working on my Master’s. I remember getting a phone call from my mom to turn on the TV. So I did. And, then, it was like this morbid fascination all day long to watch over and over again. It was just so surreal. I had to force myself to go about my business – which was to set up an observation at another library for one of my classes. And then I had to pick my children up from school – they were not allowed to walk home – which I think upset them even more. They couldn’t understand what was happening, but they could feel everybody was so tense. I highly recommend Firehouse by David Halberstam. It is the story of two fire rigs, Engine 40 and Ladder 35, that go out that day with 13 men. Twelve men never return. It is heartbreaking so make sure you have a box of Kleenex nearby.
Here are 11 stories, for all ages, about 9/11/2001. These are in no particular order:
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede
Nine, ten: a September 11 story by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The only plane in the sky by Garrett Graff
Fireboat: the heroic adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman
Here is New York: a democracy of photographs by Scalo Publishers
Saved by the boats: the heroic sea evacuation of September 11 by Julie Gassman
Ground Zero: how a photograph sent a message of hope by Don Nardo
Let’s Roll: ordinary people, extraordinary courage by Lisa Beamer
Unmeasured Strength by Lauren Manning
Firehouse by David Halberstam