Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11

by Mitchell Zuckoff

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Mitchell Zuckoff’s Fall and Rise is an invaluable work of contemporary history, a stirringly compelling narration of the events of 9/11. Eschewing the political questions of why and how, Zuckoff focuses instead on reconstructing what happened when, what it was like to be there, to have been present on that day, under those circumstances, be it in a plane or on the ground, as a survivor or a rescuer. Detailed, powerful, revelatory, a work for now and for future generations looking for a deeper, visceral understanding of a day that reverberates still.

“Better and more comprehensive than any prior account. . . . Those of us who lived through those days will find the book cathartic; those rising generations who were too young to remember 9/11, or who weren’t yet born, will find it revelatory.” — John Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission and author of The Ground Truth

“With his rigorous research and moral clarity, Mitchell Zuckoff has provided us with an invaluable service. He has deepened our understanding of what happened on 9/11 and recorded the voices of the victims and the survivors. What’s more, he has ensured that we never forget.” —David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon

Years in the making, this spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative is an unforgettable portrait of 9/11.

This is a 9/11 book like no other. Masterfully weaving together multiple strands of the events in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Fall and Rise is a mesmerizing, minute-by-minute account of that terrible day.

In the days and months after 9/11, Mitchell Zuckoff, then a reporter for the Boston Globe, wrote about the attacks, the victims, and their families. After further years of meticulous reporting, Zuckoff has filled Fall and Rise with voices of the lost and the saved. The result is an utterly gripping book, filled with intimate stories of people most affected by the events of that sunny Tuesday in September: an out-of-work actor stuck in an elevator in the North Tower of the World Trade Center; the heroes aboard Flight 93 deciding to take action; a veteran trapped in the inferno in the Pentagon; the fire chief among the first on the scene in sleepy Shanksville; a team of firefighters racing to save an injured woman and themselves; and the men, women, and children flying across country to see loved ones or for work who suddenly faced terrorists bent on murder.

Fall and Rise will open new avenues of understanding for everyone who thinks they know the story of 9/11, bringing to life—and in some cases, bringing back to life—the extraordinary ordinary people who experienced the worst day in modern American history.

Destined to be a classic, Fall and Rise will move, shock, inspire, and fill hearts with love and admiration for the human spirit as it triumphs in the face of horrifying events.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062275653
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Pages:	624
Sales rank:	387,181
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Mitchell Zuckoff is the Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Narrative Studies at Boston University. He covered 9/11 for the Boston Globe and wrote the lead news story on the day of the attacks. Zuckoff is the author of seven previous works of nonfiction, including the number one New York Times bestseller 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi, which became the basis of the Paramount Pictures movie of the same name. His earlier books also include the New York Times bestsellers Lost in Shangri-La and Frozen in Time. As a member of the Boston Globe Spotlight Team, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting and the winner of numerous national awards. He lives outside Boston.

Table of Contents

Maps xiii

Introduction "The Darkness of Ignorance" xvii

Prologue "A Clear Declaration of War" 1

Part I Fall from the Sky

Chapter 1 "Quiet's a Good Thing" 9

Chapter 2 "He's NORDO" 31

Chapter 3 "A Beautiful Day to Fly" 49

Chapter 4 "I Think We're Being Hijacked" 60

Chapter 5 "Don't Worry, Dad" 81

Chapter 6 "The Start of World War III" 94

Chapter 7 "Beware Any Cockpit Intrusion" 109

Chapter 8 "America Is Under Attack" 126

Chapter 9 "Make Him Brave" 149

Chapter 10 "Let's Roll" 169

Part II Fall to the Ground

Chapter 11 "We Need You" 193

Chapter 12 "How Lucky Am I?" 219

Chapter 13 "God Save Me!" 236

Chapter 14 "Well Be Brothers for Life" 266

Chapter 15 "They're Trying to Kill Us, Boys" 289

Chapter 16 "They Done Blowed Up the Pentagon" 307

Chapter 17 "I Think Those Buildings Are Going Down" 329

Chapter 18 "To Run, Where the Brave Dare Not Go" 346

Chapter 19 "Remember This Name" 362

Chapter 20 "This Is Your Plane Crash" 383

Chapter 21 "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" 398

Part III Rise from the Ashes

Chapter 22 "Your Sister and Niece Will Never Be Lonely" 427

Appendix 1 The Fallen 463

Appendix 2 Timeline of Key Events on September 11, 2001 499

Acknowledgments 501

Notes 505

Select Bibliography 559

Index 567

Editorial Reviews

Better and more comprehensive than any prior account.... Those of us who lived through those days will find the book cathartic; those rising generations who were too young to remember 9/11, or who weren’t yet born, will find it revelatory.” — John Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission and author of The Ground Truth

“With his rigorous research and moral clarity, Mitchell Zuckoff has provided us with an invaluable service. He has deepened our understanding of what happened on 9/11 and recorded the voices of the victims and the survivors. What’s more, he has ensured that we never forget.” — David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon

“The 9/11 book we’ve been waiting for. A terrific storyteller and gifted researcher, Mitchell Zuckoff has rendered that world-changing day on a scale both intimate and monumental. This is narrative history at its very best.” — Cokie Roberts, New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning journalist

“A triumph of great reporting and rigorous research, Fall and Rise by Mitchell Zuckoff recreates the tragic events of September 11, 2001, with harrowing precision and commendable empathy.” — Daniel James Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat

“Both a deconstruction and a reconstruction, Fall and Rise is a definitive, perhaps the definitive, account of a day that will always live in infamy. In this forensic but also literary tour de force, Mitchell Zuckoff has not only created a moving and consequential work; he’s performed a national service.” — Hampton Sides, bestselling author of In the Kingdom of Ice and On Desperate Ground

“Mitchell Zuckoff’s Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 brings readers back to those harrowing days in 2001 which forever scarred the American psyche and left a wound a mile deep in the heart of our nation. Every page shivers in stark remembrance of New York, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania on those dark days. A masterpiece of historical scholarship!” — Douglas Brinkley, author of American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race

“The horror and heroism of 9/11 are brought to life in this panoramic history. ... The result is a superb, harrowing retelling of this most dramatic of stories.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A meticulously delineated, detailed, graphic history of the events of 9/11 in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. ... Despite the story’s sprawling cast, which could have sabotaged a book by a less-skilled author, Zuckoff ably handles all of the complexities. ... [A]s contemporary history, Fall and Rise is a clear and moving success.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

A triumph of great reporting and rigorous research, Fall and Rise by Mitchell Zuckoff recreates the tragic events of September 11, 2001, with harrowing precision and commendable empathy.

Daniel James Brown

Mitchell Zuckoff’s Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 brings readers back to those harrowing days in 2001 which forever scarred the American psyche and left a wound a mile deep in the heart of our nation. Every page shivers in stark remembrance of New York, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania on those dark days. A masterpiece of historical scholarship!

Douglas Brinkley

Better and more comprehensive than any prior account.... Those of us who lived through those days will find the book cathartic; those rising generations who were too young to remember 9/11, or who weren’t yet born, will find it revelatory.

John Farmer

With his rigorous research and moral clarity, Mitchell Zuckoff has provided us with an invaluable service. He has deepened our understanding of what happened on 9/11 and recorded the voices of the victims and the survivors. What’s more, he has ensured that we never forget.

David Grann

Both a deconstruction and a reconstruction, Fall and Rise is a definitive, perhaps the definitive, account of a day that will always live in infamy. In this forensic but also literary tour de force, Mitchell Zuckoff has not only created a moving and consequential work; he’s performed a national service.

Hampton Sides

The 9/11 book we’ve been waiting for. A terrific storyteller and gifted researcher, Mitchell Zuckoff has rendered that world-changing day on a scale both intimate and monumental. This is narrative history at its very best.

Cokie Roberts

By design, this narrative of close to 500 pages is not encyclopedic…Rather, [Fall and Rise] derives its power from its focus on individuals in the main unknown to the larger world, who managed to survive the ordeal or who lost their lives simply because they were unlucky. With journalistic rigor, Zuckoff acknowledges what he doesn't know…His language is largely unadorned; then again, embellishment is neither needed nor wanted…Some may ask if this book, covering territory already well traveled, needed to be written. For those who lived through the horror, perhaps not. But a full generation has come of age with no memory of that day. It needs to hear anew what happened, and maybe learn that time, in fact, does not heal all wounds.

The New York Times Book Review - Clyde Haberman

★ 03/11/2019

The horror and heroism of 9/11 are brought to life in this panoramic history. Boston University journalism professor Zuckoff, who covered the attacks for the Boston Globe, traces the day’s events through the stories of dozens of people who experienced them: the hijackers as they put the finishing touches on their plot and set it in motion; the hijacked aircrew and passengers stunned by the unfolding nightmare; the air-traffic controllers, FAA officials, and military officers who struggled to piece together what was happening in the skies (Zuckoff shows how miscommunication delayed crucial measures that might have saved lives); workers in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as they scrambled to escape from the growing infernos; and the firefighters who risked their lives to rescue them. Zuckoff draws skillfully on interviews with survivors, family reminiscences, audio documents (including farewell phone calls from doomed victims), tapes from the cockpit of United Flight 93 where passengers fought to take the plane back from the hijackers, and forlorn notes—one reading “84th floor. West office. 12 people trapped” drifted down from a tower—to flesh out the violence, chaos, and occasional moments of grace. The result is a superb, harrowing retelling of this most dramatic of stories. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Fall and Rise reads as a compelling jig-saw puzzle: an everyday Tuesday morning abruptly shattered, cleaving our collective memory into a pre and post-September 11, 2001.  Mitchell Zuckoff proceeds to reassemble and interlock clusters of those pieces, creating a portrait of fate’s arbitrary operations while exposing the threads of human connectivity at the heart of these convulsive events. The victims, survivors, responders and bereaved relatives central to his narrative are familiar to us, accessible and endearing because we can see ourselves reflected in the mirror  of those lives that Zuckoff has restored through rigorous research, sensitive listening and artful storytelling. Infused with empathy, Fall and Rise dignifies not only the web of individuals profiled in his book but all who were violated by the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Jan Ramirez

★ 2019-02-17

A meticulously delineated, detailed, graphic history of the events of 9/11 in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.

Working at the Boston Globe as an investigative journalist, Zuckoff (Journalism/Boston Univ.; 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi, 2014, etc.) spent months after 9/11 publishing pieces on the tragedy's victims and their families and friends. He decided to revisit the personal sagas so that future generations of readers will fully understand this watershed moment in American history. The author divides the book into three sections: what happened inside the cabins and cockpits of the four hijacked planes; what happened on the ground at the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the Pennsylvania countryside; and reports on what happened to some of the survivors after 9/11. Zuckoff mostly avoids references to the hijackers' possible motivations as well as speculation on why the government failed to halt the sometimes-amateurish terrorist plot despite multiple warnings from alert sources. The author also eschews lengthy commentary on the massive reduction in civil liberties in the U.S. as governments at all levels implemented drastic policies to halt future terrorist attacks. In each of the three sections, Zuckoff offers a cross-section of widely representative individuals and then builds the relentlessly compelling narrative around those real-life protagonists. Despite the story's sprawling cast, which could have sabotaged a book by a less-skilled author, Zuckoff ably handles all of the complexities. Even readers who might normally balk at reliving 9/11 and its aftermath are quite likely to find the accounts of gruesome deaths, seemingly miraculous survivals, and courageous first responders difficult to set aside for an emotional break. In two appendices, the author provides a "timeline of key events" and a list of "the nearly three thousand names as they appear inscribed in bronze on the 9/11 Memorial in New York."

Zuckoff did not set out to write a feel-good book, and the subject matter is unquestionably depressing at times. Nonetheless, as contemporary history, Fall and Rise is a clear and moving success.

Kirkus Reviews