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The first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001—a panoramic narrative woven from the voices of Americans on the front lines of an unprecedented national trauma.
Over the past eighteen years, monumental literature has been published about 9/11, from Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, which traced the rise of al-Qaeda, to The 9/11 Commission Report, the government’s definitive factual retrospective of the attacks. But one perspective has been missing up to this point—a 360-degree account of the day told through the voices of the people who experienced it.
Now, in The Only Plane in the Sky, award-winning journalist and bestselling historian Garrett Graff tells the story of the day as it was lived—in the words of those who lived it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, original interviews, and oral histories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members, Graff paints the most vivid and human portrait of the September 11 attacks yet.
Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York City, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker underneath the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard the small number of unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down. In the skies above Pennsylvania, civilians aboard United Flight 93 make the ultimate sacrifice in their place. Then, as the day moves forward and flights are grounded nationwide, Air Force One circles the country alone, its passengers isolated and afraid.
More than simply a collection of eyewitness testimonies, The Only Plane in the Sky is the historic narrative of how ordinary people grappled with extraordinary events in real time: the father and son working in the North Tower, caught on different ends of the impact zone; the firefighter searching for his wife who works at the World Trade Center; the operator of in-flight telephone calls who promises to share a passenger’s last words with his family; the beloved FDNY chaplain who bravely performs last rites for the dying, losing his own life when the Towers collapse; and the generals at the Pentagon who break down and weep when they are barred from rushing into the burning building to try to rescue their colleagues.
At once a powerful tribute to the courage of everyday Americans and an essential addition to the literature of 9/11, The Only Plane in the Sky weaves together the unforgettable personal experiences of the men and women who found themselves caught at the center of an unprecedented human drama. The result is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.
source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Only-Plane-in-the-Sky/A-Full-45-Person-Cast/9781508295822
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Subjects
9/11, terrorism, White House, oral history, history, military, political science, political freedom & security, nyt:combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction=2019-09-29, New York Times bestseller, New York Times reviewed, September 11 terrorist attacks, 2001, September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001, Personal narratives, Terrorism, History, World Trade Center (New York, N.Y. : 1970-2001), Pentagon (Va.)Places
New York City, Washington DC, Sarasota Florida, United States, America, World Trade Center, International Space StationTimes
2001, 21st Century, 9/11/2001Showing 8 featured editions. View all 8 editions?
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1
Only Plane in the Sky: The Oral History Of 9/11
2021, Octopus Publishing Group, Monoray
in English
1913183416 9781913183417
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2
Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History Of 9/11
2020, Simon & Schuster
in English
1501182218 9781501182211
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3
The only plane in the sky [sound recording] : an oral history of 9/11
2019, Garrett M. Graff
1797103261 9781797103266
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4
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
2019, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Hardcover
150118220X 9781501182204
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5
Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
2019, Octopus Publishing Group
in English
1913183068 9781913183066
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6
Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History Of 9/11
2019, Simon & Schuster
in English
1501182226 9781501182228
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7
Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
2019, Octopus Publishing Group
in English
1913183076 9781913183073
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8
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
2019-09-10, Simon & Schuster Audio
Digital Audio
in English
1508295824 9781508295822
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Work Description
The award-winning journalist and author of Raven Rock shares the first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001—a panoramic narrative woven from hundreds of interviews with government officials, first responders, survivors, friends, and family members.
Over the last eighteen years, much has been written and said about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the profound impact they had on America and the world. But those names, stories, and memories have never before been collected in one place to tell the full, 360-degree story of what happened that day, and in the days after.
In The Only Plane in the Sky, award-winning journalist and author Garrett Graff draws on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, and original interviews and stories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members to paint the most comprehensive, minute-by-minute account of the September 11 attacks yet, all told in the words of those who experienced that dramatic and tragic day. From the firefighters who streamed into the smoke-filled stairwells of the Twin Towers to the fighter pilots scrambled from air bases across the Northeast with orders to shoot down any hijacked commercial aircraft; from the teachers who held their fear at bay while evacuating terrified children from schools mere blocks from the World Trade Center to the stricken family members trapped helplessly on the ground, hearing their loved ones’ final words from aboard a hijacked plane or within a burning building, Graff weaves together the unforgettable testimonies of the men and women who found themselves caught at the center of an unprecedented human drama. The result is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.
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Links outside Open Library
- garrettgraff.com/books/the-only-plane-in-the-sky/
- 'We're the Only Plane in the Sky' - POLITICO Magazine
- 'The Only Plane In The Sky' Offers A Powerful, Graphic Narrative Of Sept. 11
- Testimonies From the Day the Towers Came Down
- [The Only Plane in the Sky] | C-SPAN.org
- ‘The Only Plane in the Sky’ and ‘Fall and Rise’ Review: Out of the Blue on Sept. 11
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