Langewiesche - American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center

Unbuilding the World Trade Center

WILLIAM LANGEWIESCHE

NORTH POINT PRESS

A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux

New York

North Point Press

A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
19 Union Square West, New York 10003

Copyright 2002 by William Langewiesche
Afterword copyright 2003 by William Langewiesche
All rights reserved

Distributed in Canada by Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
Printed in the United States of America
Published in 2002 by North Point Press
First paperback edition, 2003

Grateful acknowledgment is made to The Atlantic Monthly, where this book originated as a three-part series.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Langewiesche, William.

American ground : unbuilding the World Trade Center / William Langewiesche. 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-86547-582-3 (hc. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-86547-582-2 (hc. : alk. paper)

1. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 2. World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.) 3. WreckingNew York (State)New York. 4. Incident command systemsNew York (State)New York. 5. SkyscrapersNew York (State)New YorkDesign and construction. 6. Construction and demolition debrisNew York (State)New York. 7. Structural engineeringNew York (State)New York. 8. Underground constructionNew York (State)New York. I. Title.

HV6432 .L364 2002
974.7'1044dc21

2002075153

Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-86547-675-2
Paperback ISBN-10: 0-86547-675-6

Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott
Map designed by Jeffrey L. Ward

www.fsgbooks.com

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Praise for William Langewiesches

Told with even-keeled care, American Ground rumbles and shifts in ways as unpredictable as the 17-acre dead zone did itself... Any good writer could recount what happened. Its difficult to imagine anyone besides Langewiesche so lucidly showing how otherworldly the World Trade Center remained after its death... The notion that American Ground is demeaning is nonsense; the book simply pushes deeper than the early mythologizing of sainted victims. The picture drawn by Langewiesche remains stirringhe shows how people on Sept. 11 and afterward rose to a long challenge. They did what was needed at any given moment, no matter how their motives and emotions might change from day to day... One job is done; Langewiesche has captured it with a succinct richness that probably cant be equaled.

J OHN K ING , San Francisco Chronicle

The most thoughtful and original [9/11] book to appear so far... Langewiesche was granted almost unlimited access to the site and the rescue staff, and he made the most of the privilege.

M ALCOLM J ONES , Newsweek

While much has been made of Langewiesches wide-ranging and rare access to the devastated site near Wall Street, what distinguishes his account is its pure journalism. This... kind of clear-eyed reporting and strong writing... seems fresh and original today because its so seldom that we encounter reporting at its most elemental... Extraordinary events demand not only extraordinary responses, which was the case at the WTC site, but also an objective witness who can testify with the facts, not prejudice. That kind of testimony is Langewiesches singular accomplishment.

B OB H OOVER , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By far the best of the post-9/11 books... A truly extraordinary work of original reporting in which diligent gathering of facts was accompanied by intelligent and informed reflection on their meaning.

H ENRY K ISOR , Chicago Sun-Times

Remarkable... Teeming with... paradoxes and ironies, American Ground accomplishes the rare feat of restoring the unimaginable trauma to the events of Sept. 11 and presenting the everyday heroism of those who cleared the site of its rubble.

A DAM B RESNICK , Los Angeles Times Book Review

One of the most compelling, dramatic and uplifting pieces of writing you are likely ever to read... American Ground will make you proud of the ground you walk on.

K EVIN H ORRIGAN , St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Artists have created some extraordinarily moving responses to the tragedy. [Among] the very best is American Ground... The chief protagonists are people never mentioned in most accounts of the disasterstructural engineers, building-collapse experts, bureaucrats from obscure government agencies who emerged as leaders of the unbuilding effort. [Langewiesche] takes us down on the ground among the steelworkers and firefighters... and makes the scene come alive in all its terrifying grandeur.

T HANE P ETERSON , Business Week

Wonderfully reported.

J AMES W ARREN , Chicago Tribune

Magnificent... Journalism reached great heights in the wake of Sept. 11 and Langewiesches work... is a pinnacle. [He]

plumbs the poetry of facts... with novelistic intensity, piecing together a mosaic of tragedy, fear, heroism, pettiness, steely resolve and grace under pressure... Langewiesches restrained prose achieves the easy elegance and heart-of-the-matter authority that come when a writer has both mastered and trusts his material... Unlike so many writers of 9/11 related works, he resists the urge to turn tragedy into melodrama or to mythologize all parties. Unsentimental and empathetic, clear-eyed and inspiring, American Ground recalls the best work of Joseph Mitchell and John McPhee.

J. P EDER Z ANE , The Raleigh Observer

Many Sept. 11 books and articles have attempted to re-create the horror of that day and its aftermaththe detail of Langewiesches account, drawn from months of 18-hour days at the site, trumps them all.

S HARYN W IZDA V ANE , Austin American-Statesman

Keenly observe[d]... In the face of byzantine intrigue, ever-present danger, and constant reminders of unfathomable horror, [Langewiesche] maintains his investigative instincts, his composure, and above all the sense of dignity without which we could not bear to hear the story again.

A MANDA H ELLER , The Boston Globe

For all the frenzied cultural effort that goes into manufacturing sentimentalized images from raw truth and fact, it always turns out that truth and fact are more interesting, and often even more inspiring. And so it is with the story of the World Trade Center sites recovery after the terror and destruction of Sept. 11, 2001. [Langewiesche] embraced the unsavory, all-too-human aspects of his story as sympathetically as the genuinely heroic, and he is reluctant to judge any of his subjects harshly.

R ICK H ARMON , The Oregonian

Its going to be hard to find [a 9/11 book] more fascinating than American Ground... The access Langewiesche was granted to the site of the collapsed towers gives his account of the rescue and cleanup efforts a unique immediacy.

C HARLES M ATTHEWS , San Jose Mercury News

Langewiesche... doesnt think of himself as a traditional reporter. And he doesnt work like one... But in this casechronicling the massive, nine-month cleanup at the Trade Center... his reporting style... served him well... Hard to put down.

P ETER J OHNSON , USA Today

Harrowing, sweaty-palm reading.

S IAN G IBBY , Slate

[American Ground] draws the reader in with gripping details and lucid style. By rendering candid character studies of the men who claimed their positions in the cleanup efforts, Langewiesches opus is at once detached and intensely personal... His ability to see through the heartbreak to the achievements on the pile translates into writing that allows the reader to understand what happened, and why the American response was so unique.