The Only Plane in the Sky

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 

by Garrett M. Graff
485 pages
NonFiction

This book contains about 500 firsthand accounts of September 10-11, 2001 from firefighters, police, WTC workers, Pentagon workers, newscasters, government officials and more. Even those who perished have a voice through their phone calls and messages. The eye witness accounts are edited into bite-sized paragraphs pertaining to particular moments and presented in chronological order forming an impressively comprehensive view of the day.

I just finished read this book and - oh my! Brave men and women using what strength and skill they had in the face of overwhelming devastation and indescribable horror. I cried many times throughout the book. It was gut wrenching and heart breaking. But I was inspired by their acts of courage and bravery in the face of certain death.

I happened to be listening to The Fellowship of the Ring on audiobook during the same period and the two connected in my mind. They were oddly comforting. If the worst happens, you can still choose to die honorably - fighting to the last. There is a certain goodness and comfort in that thought. (Note: This book is not for sensitive minds. It is a collection of firsthand accounts of 9-11.)

This is not the kind of book that you can pick up and read casually. You have to be prepared to enter into the trauma of the day. I read it in the evenings after the kids were in bed and the house was quiet. It was emotionally draining. I stayed up way too late on many nights because it was hard to put down. The firsthand accounts are compelling. Real people lived that. It felt almost wrong to casually put the book down and go to sleep.

One thing that struck and interested me was what different people knew at different moments. All the false news and rumors. For those with boots on the ground, it wasn't a series of easily defined plane crashes that we might see in hindsight today. The book did a good job of illustrating how the day evolved and unfolded from various viewpoints. It also offered insight into the scope and scale of the various waves of destruction caused by a single crash. Some reports about what occurred in specific situations conflict with each other as you would expect in authentic eye witness accounts. Toward the end, the book broke from its chronological telling of events, inserted a jarringly misplaced “9-11 Generation” chapter and jumped randomly between locations which was confusing. Still overall, an amazing piece of history.

Note: The author (really editor) of this book is an annoying liberal millennial; it is the power of the eye witness accounts that earns my high recommendation. I would recommend skipping the Author's Note & Acknowledgement sections and taking his inserted comments with a grain of salt.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Adult readers. This is a valuable history to read and preserve. It would be worthwhile to read in remembrance of 9-11 each year.