New York September Eleven Two Thousand One: September Eleven Two Thousand and One [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Again, I've gone through nearly 30 books about 9/11. After you get past the austere black cover, this paperback falls with a thud.

Simply put, this book tries too HARD to be profound. You see images you've seen before, such as the sequence of shots of one of the jets slamming into the south tower of the WTC. Nothing new.

Two things bug me: Layout and content.

In the layout, you get the feeling the editors are trying to SLEGEHAMMER the reader with the obvious. I hate this. For example, in some essays, certain words and phrases are laid out into single lines, as if they are poetry. Then there is the awful decision to use fonts of varying sizes to EMPHASIZE certain passages. This is a pretentious device that, I'm sorry, calls TOO MUCH ATTENTION to itself. It is completely unnecessary and smacks of a patronizing tone intended to magnify the depth and gravity of what occurred on 9/11. We all know about that dark day. We DON'T need it pushed into our faces under the umbrella of "literary art."

Meanwhile, about the Chomsky essay: It's short but it's awful. It's laid out, again, in a way that feels like "padding." His message reads like an "I told you so" lesson. Here's what he does: He points to America's "sins" of the past and then turns them around in a way that makes you want to believe that it's NOW THE UNITED STATES' TURN TO SUFFER. This is horrible. His opinions are the stuff of fiery pamphlets handed out on street corners. (BECAUSE WHO WOULD PAY FOR THIS?)

OK, what's good about this book? Well, some of the transcripts of phone calls and a handful essays from victims and witnesses are well done. Why? Because they ARE NOT pretentious. But when others try to be "inspirational," they end up stating the obvious. I can't help but feel most writers were given an outlet to "vent" their own emotions, which have more relevance to the writer than to the reader.

If you want more for less, pick up the December 2001 issue of American Heritage Magazine. There you get five-star opinions about 9/11 from individuals of world repute. It has a "permanence" this book lacks and it doesn't feel rushed together.

In sum, it's fine to read what people like Joan Rivers, Deepak Chopra, Richard Dreyfuss and others "feel" about 9/11. But is it worth PAYING for? You can't judge quality by "good intentions." This is a rush-to-market volume featuring opinions from most who have (or who will have) little if any impact on our lives. Why not opinions from Giuliani, Bush, Blair, Sharon and Arafat, even those recorded by the news media in the AFTERMATH of 9/11? Why not more views from individuals who can effect CHANGE? This book could have been GREAT.

Trust me, this is NOT the definitive book of "think pieces" about 9/11/01.

If you disagree, fine. It's your money. But my advice is to borrow before you buy. There are other books worth buying. This one isn't.

From what I've been able to gather from the front part of the book, the contributors, both photographers and writers, have donated their images and words so that all of the publisher's profits can go to charity. The contributors are, for the most part, amazing writers, thinkers and photographers, like Chomsky, Chopra, Rushdie and on and on. What I liked most, however, were the quieter photos--the one's showing what was happening at ground zero in the days and weeks after the attack--and the written pieces from the non-professional writers, people that just poured their hearts out. Some are famous because of being involved in the attack, others were famous before, but aren't known for spilling their guts so honestly and openly. The ones I thought really did a nice job were Joan Rivers, Richard Dreyfuss and Liam Neeson. Neeson, particularly, is good. He admits that, hey, I'm no writer, but here's what's in my heart and here's what I wish. Good stuff. There's something like 40 such contributors. Also, there's a good piece from the late Carl Sagan reprinted, called Reflections On A Mote of Dust. It really brings the book to a somber but appropriate close.

This one is well worth buying. Especially since the proceeds go to charity. I think the spirit of the book is such that it would make a nice gift as well. One thing this book doesn't do which it feels like some of the others do (sorry, but it's true) is sensationalize the attack. There are no exploding buildings on the cover of this book. It's just very a respectful, plain, flat black. It feels like something you could put out on the coffee table without feeling like some sort of ghoul. Like books on the Kennedy assassination, I think this should be in every household.