New York September 11

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Book Reviews of New York September 11

Book Review: History as It Happened
Summary: 5 Stars

In New York City for a meeting, and unfamiliar with the territory, he asks his colleague where the WTC is.

"Follow the smoke, country boy," is her reply.

This anecdote resonates on several levels. It tells us about how everyone, it seems, was affected on that day, and it tells us how one photojournalist, one of several Magnum photo agency photographers, was personally touched by the events. He and others, who had come from postings around the world to New York City for a meeting the day before, captured the images of the story of their professional lives. And, of course, it's about the dreadful smoke, the utter devastation as the Twin Towers first burned then collapsed in full view of millions.

The Magnum book is an excellent record of the disaster. Even those who have seen hundreds of photos and TV accounts will find pictures that are worthy of extra study. As a record, it's excellent, though I have yet to find a book that has captured the entire story. It's probably too soon. But the starkness of many of the pictures, the shades of gray and blue as the concrete dust and soot spewed for blocks (and later miles) and then settled on everything an everyone, should be seen in still photo. It's very different from the moving images on TV and demand careful attention.

The photos tell us that people sometimes do strange things, though they may be explicable. There's probably a reason that a woman sat on a rooftop in Brooklyn, with her baby, and watched the disaster, even though the choking smoke must have drifted over her pretty quickly. Perhaps she couldn't look away.

The red, white and blue of an American flag adds just a touch of color to the otherwise smoky blue-gray centerpiece picture by Thomas Hoepker. It's a chilling picture, one capable of telling anyone who wasn't there what it really looked like, almost what it felt like.

This book is absolutely a keeper for the future. Many are not the news pictures we've become familiar with because of the endless reruns on TV but that's what gives them extra value. As time passes, and memories fade, this book will remind us what it was like that awful day.

Summary of New York September 11

Photo Essays Books

• Books > Subjects > Arts & Photography > Photography
• Photojournalism
• History > Americas > United States > 21st Century
• State & Local
• Current Events > September 11
• Terrorism