current events

If you want to know how the country dealt with the events of September 11th in the year that followed this is the definitive book on the topic. If follows dozens of individuals through that year from victims' families, business owners both small(the owner of a shoe repair shop in NYC) to large (the owner of the twin towers), to those in affected industries (the manager of the Minneapolis airport) to those in government including John Ashcroft and Senator Charles Schumer. It covers both the positives and negatives of issues that arose whether it be how vicitms were being identified, to the changes in views on civil liberties, to victim compensation to insurance. (The question of whether or not the planes striking the World Trade Center was a "single occurrence" or two "events." There was a $3.55 billion difference between those two concepts.) At a whopping 723 pages I finished this book in six days and highly recommend it to everyone.

Here's just one small bit I though was worth sharing:

"One of Ashcroft's closest aids was asked by the author a few days later what protection any American had if someone like Padilla could be arrested on American soil and held secretly just on the government's say so.

"After first correcting his questioner for not using Padilla's Muslim name, he answered, 'Well, I guess his family could speak out if he's missing, and if that creates a political furor, the Pesident would be accountable at the next election.'

"Was that the only protection?

"'That and the good faith of the people who hold these offices,' he replied."

This book follows everyday people, key political figures, and various other business and charity organizers and shows how their lives changed in the days, weeks, months and year after 9/11. What starts to emerge from a thoughtful reading of this book is that it reflects Americans and the United States in all its strengths and all its weaknesses. The people described and the country is not perfect, but the issues and pressures that are faced hour by hour, day by day, etcetera is truly remarkable. There is constant give and take as differing idealogies and philosophies of the freedom America should bring is played out, but in fast forward. Decisions, bills (both those needing to be paid and ones on Capitol Hill), opportunities, and obstacles come up and are dealt with, for better or worse in retrospect.

The only 9/11 book that comes close to this sort of balanced and careful analysis, albeit still early in the history of the post 9/11 era, is Inside 9/11 by the editors of Der Spiegel.

In the wake of the 911 tragedy came a virtual tidal wave of tomes relating in one fashion or another to the effects and meaning of the events of that fateful day. Yet with all those books, none has succeeded quite so colorfully or in such an entertaining and edifying fashion as has noted journalist Steven Brill in "After: How America Confronted The September 12 Era". Focusing on the individual lives of a variety of different people from any of a number of separate and distinct walks of life, Brill pulls us up close and personal into the vortex of what is swirling around within the events and consequences flowing from the actions of nineteen madmen bent on murder and mayhem. Yet this is not a maudlin book, in the sense that it concentrates on a tragic event and its aftermath. Instead, it is a celebration of why we Americans have much to be proud of regarding the conduct of many of the involved individuals.

The book, while meticulously noted and researched, flows rather like a work of fiction, moving us with its portrayal of the shuddering impact of the day's events. Yet, despite its stirring narrative and impressive dialogue, each of the characters in this well-written work are real breathing individuals, most of them still walking among us, most of them still relatively anonymous. And it is due to this sheer raw humanity exposed in its most vulnerable moments of loss and renewal. In so doing, Brill offers us a stirring and unforgettable portrait of how our culture works. Thus we follow a customs officer as he reacts to his own eyewitness experience of the hits on the World Trade Centers with an emotional and yet critical effort to rein in control over a massive field full of potentially dangerous cargo containers, any of which might hold weapons of mass destruction, or a customs officer who suddenly must curtail the rather informal border crossings with few men or resources at her disposal.

We watch as an executive reacts to the news by immediately issuing orders for the materials to expand production of airport x-ray machines needed to ensure greater passenger safety, and as other individuals with loved ones lost in the carnage struggle to draw meaning and sustenance from their bewildering losses. The few negative aspects of the book have to do with Brill's seemingly naïve acceptance of several bureaucrat's spin on the events in self serving ways, a la Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft, who attempt to justify actions taken by the federal bureaucracy on the basis of protecting Americans, when elsewhere it has been demonstrated that there were other, ulterior motives for much of these moves to consolidate power and capability more exclusively within the federal executive branch. Yet the nearly 350 interviews and extensive research accomplished by Brill shine through with a most memorable and meaningful essay into the aftermath of a day that will certainly live in infamy for decades to come. Enjoy!