In this original examination of America's post-9/11 culture, journalist Faludi shines a light on the country's psychological response to the attacks of that terrible day. Turning her observational powers on the media, popular culture, and political life, Faludi unearths a barely acknowledged societal drama shot through with baffling contradictions. Why, she asks, did our culture respond to an assault against American global dominance with a frenzied summons to restore "traditional" manhood, marriage, and maternity? Why did we react as if the hijackers had targeted not a commercial and military edifice but the family home and nursery? The answer, she finds, lies in a historical anomaly unique to the American experience: the nation was forged in traumatizing assaults by nonwhite "barbarians" on town and village. That humiliation lies concealed under a myth of cowboy bluster and feminine frailty, which is reanimated whenever threat and shame looms.--From publisher description.

As we approach the twenty-second anniversary of the catastrophic collapse of the World Trade Center, one of the world's signature symbols of capitalism, Dr. Charles H. Thornton, a preeminent structural engineer, has written a book applying his engineering design principles from the construction of two of the world's tallest buildings: the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (built 1999), and Taipei 101 in Taiwan, ROC (built 2003). Dr. Thornton has the insight and design expertise to finally set the record straight on what really happened on September 11, 2001. In the early 1960s, as David Rockefeller's sixty-story Chase Manhattan Bank Headquarters near Wall Street was nearing completion, David, together with his brother Nelson and Austin Tobin, the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, quietly, for the most part, launched a venture into real estate. None of them really had any experience or mandate to start or accomplish this by charter. Borrowing a page from The Power Broker, Robert Caro's biography about New York's Robert Moses, this cabal of capitalists conceived an ill-fated financial and real estate venture, the World Trade Center Corporation, which was responsible for an even more ill-fated design and construction process. The new established World Trade Center Corporation, led by two political and technical rogues, Guy Tozzoli and Malcolm Levy, violated all the rules set by national and local building codes, manipulated the adoption of a New York City building code three years before it was readily accepted by the New York City real estate and construction industry, and manipulated a malleable out-of-town architect and structural engineer, both of whom at the time of design in 1962 had never designed a building higher than twenty stories. Most consequentially, the corporation bypassed the checks and balances and processes of the New York City, New York State, and State of New Jersey building codes through the improper use of a compact from the 1789 US Constitution that a bistate agency was not required to comply with the code of either state. The die was cast and set for the worst terrorist attacks on two of the most vulnerable tall buildings ever designed and constructed. This was all accomplished without the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ever knowing whether the buildings could survive a full floor fire. And as the record shows, they did not survive one.

In one volume, Mounting Evidence provides the most important evidence accumulated over many years that calls into question the governments account of 9/11. Any citizen of conscience reading it will demand a new investigation. Mike Gravel, United States Senate, 1969-1981 Theres little doubt the tragic attacks on 9/11 soon became the defining events of our time, shaping much of what has followed. But even now, over a decade later, how well does the public actually understand them? Other researchers have written about key facets of 9/11-the fall of World Trade Center buildings, the air-defense failures, the backgrounds of the hijackers, or the role of the Saudi funders. This impressively researched volume, however, is the first comprehensive treatment of the many different angles. It connects the dots to reveal disturbing patterns. Years after many of us thought the Crime of the Century was solved, case closed, additional evidence demands a closer look. These findings, which Dr. Rea presents in a lively, accessible way, call out for a new investigation. In Mounting Evidence, Dr. Rea shows how, by understanding the shattering events of that dark day, Americans can end seemingly endless wars, take back personal liberties theyve lost, and restore their democracy.

A first responder’s harrowing account of 9/11—the inspirational true story of an American hero who gave nearly everything for others during one of New York City’s darkest hours. On September 11, 2001, FDNY Battalion Chief Richard “Pitch” Picciotto answered the call heard around the world. In minutes, he was at Ground Zero of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center began to burn—and then to buckle. A veteran of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Picciotto was eerily familiar with the inside of the North Tower. And it was there that he concentrated his rescue efforts. It was in its smoky stairwells where he heard and felt the South Tower collapse. He made the call for firemen and rescue workers to evacuate, while he stayed behind with a skeleton team of men to help evacuate a group of disabled and infirm civilians. And it was in the rubble of the North Tower where Picciotto found himself buried—for more than four hours after the building’s collapse.

New York Times Bestseller From the first FDNY chief to respond to the 9/11 attacks, an intimate memoir and a tribute to those who died that others might live When Chief Joe Pfeifer led his firefighters to investigate an odor of gas in downtown Manhattan on the morning of 9/11, he had no idea that his life was about to change forever. A few moments later, he watched as the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Pfeifer, the closest FDNY chief to the scene, spearheaded rescue efforts on one of the darkest days in American history. Ordinary Heroes is the unforgettable and intimate account of what Chief Pfeifer witnessed at Ground Zero, on that day and the days that followed. Through his eyes, we see the horror of the attack and the courage of the firefighters who ran into the burning towers to save others. We see him send his own brother up the stairs of the North Tower, never to return. And we walk with him and his fellow firefighters through weeks of rescue efforts and months of numbing grief, as they wrestle with the real meaning of heroism and leadership. This gripping narrative gives way to resiliency and a determination that permanently reshapes Pfeifer, his fellow firefighters, NYC, and America. Ordinary Heroes takes us on a journey that turns traumatic memories into hope, so we can make good on our promise to never forget 9/11.