American Ground

There is something so impressive when an author is given "unrestricted access" to his or her subject. To me, it inspires endless possibilities. When I found out Langewiesche was given "unrestricted access" to the cleanup after 9/11 I was excited. American Ground is the story of the physical breakdown, piece by piece, of the World Trade Center (hence the use of the word "unbuilding" in the subtitle). Probably the most fascinating part of American Ground was the unbelievable "territorial war" between the firefighters and the police, each believing their dead was more important than the other. There was a great disunity between the groups as the clean up continued. At the same time there were shining examples of people who selflessly went show more above and beyond to not honor find the missing but to honor the dead. show less

There's a 400 page book that could have been written that explores the clean-up process in minute detail that I probably would have enjoyed more, but that's just my preference. I enjoyed this book, although the author did have a habit of talking extensively about how a particular person was super effective or super well known or super respected, but then doesn't do a great job of demonstrating how. I think that falls in line with the short length - you can't spend time giving a dozen examples explained in detail when there's only 200 pages to work with.

Well written look at the unbuilding of the World Trade Centre, some of the politics on the pile, how groups work, leadership styles

Such an interesting perspective into the process on dealing with the aftermath of the 9.11 ruins in NYC. The only journalist given total access to the site.

How the rescuers came. A very American saga.