Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Mount Angel Public Library | 974.7 HAMPTON | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | J 973.931 Hampton 2003 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
The award-winning Wilborn Hampton recounts one horrifying day in history through the eyes of several people who experienced it firsthand.
A blind man and his dog struggling to escape from the burning North Tower, a company of firefighters risking their lives to help with the evacuation, an ordinary citizen turned rescue worker sifting through debris after the towers collapsed - each of these individuals endured a personal nightmare, and each carries a separate memory.
In SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: ATTACK ON NEW YORK CITY, Wilborn Hampton captures an unprecedented piece of history through interviews and accounts of survivors, heroes, and terrorists. In addition, the seasoned reporter tells his own story, thus bringing to readers the grieving, compassionate voice of a fellow New Yorker who was close to Ground Zero. Amplifying the narrative are fifty-four black-and-white photographs, indelible images of horror and heroism unfolding. The panorama of views Wilborn Hampton presents, following several individuals through September 11 and its aftermath, creates an intimate portrait of life and loss, and a deeper understanding of the events of that tragic day.
Back matter includes a bibliography, a filmography, and an index.
Author Notes
Wilborn Hampton was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1940, and was a reporter for U.P.I. from 1963 to 1979. Since 1979, Wilborn Hampton has worked at the NEW YORK TIMES as an editor and as a theater and book critic. On the morning of September 11, 2001, he was preparing to go to work when two hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York City. Wilborn Hampton undertook to write the story of that awful day because he felt that "no single event since the attack on Pearl Harbor has so traumatized and galvanized the American people as the attacks on September 11. It seemed important, especially for younger readers who may have questions in years to come about what happened, to try to put on paper an account of what took place in New York City that day. And the only way to begin to understand the horror of what occurred on September 11 was to recount it through the eyes of those who experienced it firsthand."
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-An introduction and epilogue offer facts surrounding the events of 9/11; three middle chapters present the personal sagas of selected individuals, told in the third person. Hampton had direct access to four of the men, while the stories of Rudy Giuliani, the firefighters of Ladder Co. #6, and Mohammed Atta (a Flight 11 hijacker) were put together from secondary sources. "The Attack" presents readers with photographs of the individuals and descriptions of their morning activities on September 11. "Flight" provides riveting details of escape, or, in the case of James Kenworthy, who was en route to work at the Towers, the difficult decision of whether to turn back to his children's schools or head toward the inferno where his wife was. "Aftermath" portrays how different individuals approached loss. Ironically, the weakest story is that of the author, then an editor at the New York Times. His account of watching the news and eventually resuming his normal pursuits of opera and theater comes across as static and empty in comparison to the other accounts, and seems a bit self-indulgent. Captioned black-and-white photographs of the now-familiar images of dazed and wounded New Yorkers and the Towers's collapse are interspersed throughout. Those libraries collecting comprehensively on the subject will want to select this book. Companion titles, adding other voices, include Tamara Roleff's America under Attack: Primary Sources (Lucent, 2002) and Annie Thoms's with their eyes (HarperCollins, 2002).-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
New York Times editor Hampton (Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns) presents a personal, emotional account of the attack on the World Trade Center, profiling two people who were in the towers when the planes hit, the family of a woman who perished and some who helped with the rescue effort, including members of the NYFD's Ladder Company 6. The chronicle gets off to a rather slow start, offering detailed overviews of these individuals' backgrounds and their routines on that infamous Tuesday morning. Then Hampton describes the beginnings of the disaster, and his account becomes riveting. He profiles the slow descent, by stairs, of a blind man and his guide dog from the 71st floor of the North Tower; the blind man's heightened senses make his egress particularly terrifying: "Omar kept hearing things that others could not-the creaking of the steel girders that held the giant building upright in the sky and the cracking of the walls." Hampton dramatically chronicles the firefighters of Ladder Company 6 and their aid to a slow-moving grandmother, helping her inch down the stairs of the North Tower as it collapsed around them (they were famously rescued from the rubble). Accompanying b&w photos bring the events of this day into focus, ranging from the chillingly iconic (the towers burning) to the quietly tragic (firefighters carrying the body of their beloved chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, who died while giving the last rites to a firefighter at Ground Zero). Strong, and occasionally rawly emotional, reporting. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Hampton personalizes the events of 9/11 by relating the individual stories of a number of New Yorkers. Readers will meet ordinary citizens as they face extraordinary times: Jim Kenworthy, whose wife worked and died on the ninety-sixth floor of the North Tower; Bob Fox, who survived the attack on the World Trade Center but lost his lifelong friend and mentor; Omar Rivera, a blind computer systems designer with the Port Authority who escaped with the help of his guide dog; and Mac LaFollette, who worked tirelessly at ground zero as a volunteer. Readers will also have an opportunity to explore the responses of firefighters (members of Ladder Company 6) and a government servant (Mayor Guiliani). Without sentimentalizing or sensationalizing, Hampton connects all these stories into a cohesive narrative, filling in information about parallel events (the attack on the Pentagon, the crash in a Pennsylvania field of United Airlines Flight 93) and allowing dramatic photographs to extend the events of the day to the larger community. A somber epilogue briefly outlines a grief-stricken city striving for normalcy, the search for Osama bin Laden, and the recovery and cleanup at ground zero. Accessible and informative, this disciplined account presents both the best and the worst of humanity. With a bibliography, a filmography, and an index. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6-9. Hampton, New York Times editor, writes with precision, grace and a frightening intensity as he traces the story of 9/11 through his personal perspective and the experiences of others: a married couple who worked in the World Trade Towers, one of whom was lost; a blind man and his dog, both of whom escaped; and firefighters, office workers, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Hampton re-creates the terrible events of that day clearly, and he does so with such vividness that his account is sometimes very difficult to read. But Hampton provides excellent documentation, and he answers many questions that teen readers have: What were the streets like? How did people respond? How many people died? He also touches briefly on the motivations of hijacker Mohammad Atta and of probable mastermind, Osama bin Laden. There are many, perhaps too many, books about 9/11 written for young people, but this is one of the best. --GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright 2003 Booklist