American Ground

Last updated
American Ground
Unbuilding the World Trade Center
American Ground.jpg
Author William Langewiesche
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher North Point Press
Publication date
October 24, 2002
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages224 pp.
ISBN 9780865475823
OCLC 758636153
974.7/1044
LC Class HV6432 .L364 2002

American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center is a book by William Langewiesche, published in 2002, about the cleanup and recovery effort at the World Trade Center site following the September 11 attacks. Langewiesche embedded with the team managing the search and removal of The Pile, originally writing a series of articles for The Atlantic [1] that were expanded into American Ground.

Contents

Synopsis

Though the New York City Office of Emergency Management was responsible for coordinating the city's overall response in the aftermath of the World Trade Center collapse, the cleanup and recovery efforts at Ground Zero were quickly placed in the purview of the New York City Department of Design and Construction, a then-obscure Queens-based city agency that handled civic construction and permitting. From an elementary school in Battery Park City, DDC commissioner Ken Holden and deputy commissioner Mike Burton managed most of the day-to-day aspects of the site, along with an inner circle of consultants from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Leslie E. Robertson Associates (founded by the lead structural engineer of the Twin Towers), LZA/Thornton Tomasetti, Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers, and D.H. Griffin Companies, as well as representatives from the Fire Department of New York, New York Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department, and various other state, federal, and nonprofit organizations.

Using established contacts in the city's construction industry, the DDC split Ground Zero into four quadrants and assigned AMEC, Bovis Lend Lease, Tully Construction Company, and Turner Construction to oversee the cleanup of each quadrant, though the demarcation of the quadrants blurred as the removal process accelerated. Langewiesche details the demands and dangers of the work and its managerial challenges, as decisions were mostly made on the fly, particularly by Burton, due to the unprecedented and immense scale of the cleanup effort. Ultimately, 1.5 million tons of debris was removed from the site and barged by Weeks Marine or trucked to the recently-closed Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, where it was searched for human remains or personal effects (such as the intact, expired identification card of Port Authority lead engineer and frequent DDC consultant Peter Rinaldi, which had been stored in his office on the 72nd floor of the North Tower and was found among rubble in Fresh Kills).

The book recounts the moments leading up to the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 into the Twin Towers, the factors that led to each building's collapse, and the key issues that arose during the cleanup effort, including fears that the site's slurry wall would fail and flood the 17-acre site to the possibility of industrial accident from excavators working atop the unstable debris pile. Langewiesche himself joined several excursions beneath The Pile where the management team assessed potential concerns, relating the journey to a ruined industrial chiller plant thought to contain a lethal amount of Freon at risk of escaping upward and quickly suffocating rescue workers as well as a search for leaks in the slurry wall. He also chronicles the tensions that arose around the site, from clashes between firefighters insistent on a methodical search of the ruins for their fallen brothers and the construction management teams who hoped to clear the site as fast as possible to the irreparable strain the cleanup effort put on Holden and Burton's professional relationship. By the end of the cleanup effort in mid-2002, several of the key players Langewiesche interviewed related a feeling of emptiness over the completion of the insular work at the site, having felt it was the most important of their lives. At the book's close, Langewiesche describes the fate of the 200,000 tons of structural steel used in the buildings, which was cut into blocks and shipped to China and India to be melted down for reuse.

Reception

Praised for its matter-of-fact tone and detailed thoroughness, American Ground was listed as an essential book about the September 11 attacks [2] [3] and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. [4] However, a passage about evidence of possible looting by firefighters prior to the collapse that was unearthed during the recovery effort was met with criticism and angry rebuttals upon the book's publication. [5] In 2019, Slate included the book on its list of the 50 best non-fiction books from the past 25 years. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorials and services for the September 11 attacks</span> List of September 11 attack memorials and services

The first memorials to the victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001 began to take shape online, as hundreds of webmasters posted their own thoughts, links to the Red Cross and other rescue agencies, photos, and eyewitness accounts. Numerous online September 11 memorials began appearing a few hours after the attacks, although many of these memorials were only temporary. Around the world, U.S. embassies and consulates became makeshift memorials as people came out to pay their respects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center</span> Post-9/11 rescue operations

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center elicited a large response of local emergency and rescue personnel to assist in the evacuation of the two towers, resulting in a large loss of the same personnel when the towers collapsed. After the attacks, the media termed the World Trade Center site "Ground Zero", while rescue personnel referred to it as "the Pile".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Trade Center site</span> Grounds of the World Trade Center in New York City

The World Trade Center site, often referred to as "Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north, the West Side Highway to the west, Liberty Street to the south, and Church Street to the east. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) owns the site's land. The original World Trade Center complex stood on the site until it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slurry wall</span> Civil engineering technique

A slurry wall is a civil engineering technique used to build reinforced concrete walls in areas of soft earth close to open water, or with a high groundwater table. This technique is typically used to build diaphragm (water-blocking) walls surrounding tunnels and open cuts, and to lay foundations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National September 11 Memorial & Museum</span> Memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11, 2001 attacks

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. It is operated by a non-profit institution whose mission is to raise funds for, program, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collapse of the World Trade Center</span> Outcome of September 11 attacks

The collapse of the World Trade Center occurred on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, after two commercial airliners hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City as part of the September 11 attacks. The North Tower was the first building to be hit when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into it at 8:46 a.m., causing it to collapse at 10:28 after burning for one hour and 41 minutes. At 9:03 a.m., the South Tower was struck by United Airlines Flight 175; it collapsed at 9:58 a.m. after burning for 55 minutes. The towers' destruction caused major devastation throughout Lower Manhattan, and more than a dozen adjacent and nearby structures were damaged or destroyed by debris from the plane impacts or the collapses. Four of the five remaining World Trade Center structures were immediately crushed or damaged beyond repair as the towers fell, while 7 World Trade Center remained standing for another six hours until fires ignited by raining debris from the North Tower brought it down at 5:21 that afternoon. The hijackings, crashes, fires and subsequent collapses killed an initial total of 2,760 people. Toxic powder from the demolished high-rises was dispersed throughout the city and gave rise to numerous long-term health effects that continue to plague many who were in the towers' vicinity, with at least three additional deaths reported. The 110-story towers are the tallest freestanding structures ever to be destroyed, and the death toll from the attack on the North Tower represents the deadliest terrorist act in world history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Langewiesche</span> American author and journalist (born 1955)

William Langewiesche is an American author and journalist who was also a professional airplane pilot for many years. Since 2019 he has been a writer at large for The New York Times Magazine. Prior to that he was a correspondent for The Atlantic and Vanity Fair magazines for twenty-nine years. He is the author of nine books and the winner of two National Magazine Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deutsche Bank Building</span> Former skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Deutsche Bank Building was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the September 11 attacks in 2001, due to contamination that spread from the collapse of the South Tower. The structure was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which also designed the Empire State Building.

Dennis Smith was an American firefighter and author. He was the author of 16 books, the most notable of which is the memoir Report from Engine Co. 82, a chronicle of his career as a firefighter with the New York City Fire Department in a South Bronx firehouse from the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Smith served for 18 years as a New York City firefighter, from 1963 to 1981, and is a well-known advocate for firefighters in the United States. After 9/11, he chronicled the 57 days he spent in rescue and recovery operations at the World Trade Center collapse in a bestselling book, Report from Ground Zero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Trade Center cross</span> Two steel beams found in the debris

The World Trade Center cross, also known as the Ground Zero cross, is a formation of steel beams found among the debris of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, New York City, following the September 11 attacks in 2001. This set of beams is so named because it resembles the proportions of a Christian cross. The beams have been part of an exhibit at the September 11 Museum since 2014.

<i>Raising the Flag at Ground Zero</i>

Raising the Flag at Ground Zero is a photograph by Thomas E. Franklin of The Record newspaper of Bergen County, New Jersey, taken on September 11, 2001. The picture shows three New York City firefighters raising the U.S. flag at Ground Zero of the World Trade Center, following the September 11 attacks. The official names for the photograph used by The Record are Firefighters Raising Flag and Firemen Raising the Flag at Ground Zero. The photo appeared on The Record front page on September 12, 2001. The paper also put it on the Associated Press wire and it appeared on the covers of several newspapers around the world. It has often been compared to the Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal during World War II.

The following list contains dates beyond October 2001 involving the September 11 attacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health effects arising from the September 11 attacks</span> Health issues and effects during and after the September 11 attacks

Within seconds of the collapse of the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks, building materials, electronic equipment, and furniture were pulverized and spread over the area of the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. In the five months following the attacks, dust from the pulverized buildings continued to fill the air of the World Trade Center site. Increasing numbers of New York residents are reporting symptoms of Ground Zero respiratory illnesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudy Giuliani during the September 11 attacks</span> Role played by Mayor Giuliani

As Mayor of New York City on September 11, 2001, Rudy Giuliani played a major role in the response to the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center towers in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zuccotti Park</span> Public park in Manhattan, New York

Zuccotti Park is a 33,000-square-foot (3,100 m2) publicly accessible park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is located in a privately owned public space (POPS) controlled by Brookfield Properties and Goldman Sachs. Zuccotti Park is bounded by Broadway to the east, Liberty Street to the north, Trinity Place to the west, and Cedar Street to the south.

Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend is a video produced by the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF). On July 11, 2007, the IAFF released the 13-minute video in DVD format to fire departments across the U.S. The DVD outlines its complaints against Rudy Giuliani. It is critical of the 2008 Republican Party presidential candidate and former New York City mayor. As the video has been issued on a website, and not just DVD, it is classifiable as a viral video.

<i>Postcards</i> (memorial) Sculpture in Staten Island, New York

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Trade Center (1973–2001)</span> Former skyscraper complex in Manhattan, New York

The original World Trade Center (WTC) was a large complex of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed during the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. At the time of their completion, the Twin Towers—the original 1 World Trade Center at 1,368 feet (417 m); and 2 World Trade Center at 1,362 feet (415.1 m)—were the tallest buildings in the world. Other buildings in the complex included the Marriott World Trade Center, 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. The complex contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m2) of office space and, prior to its completion, was projected to accommodate an estimated 130,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Trade Center (2001–present)</span> Skyscraper complex in Manhattan, New York City

The World Trade Center (WTC) is a mostly completed complex of buildings in the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, U.S., replacing the original seven buildings on the same site that were destroyed in the September 11 attacks. The site is being rebuilt with up to six new skyscrapers, four of which have been completed; a memorial and museum to those killed in the attacks; the elevated Liberty Park adjacent to the site, containing the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Vehicular Security Center; and a transportation hub. The 104-story One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, is the lead building for the new complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural influence of the September 11 attacks</span> Effects 9/11 on culture

The cultural influence of the September 11 attacks (9/11) has been profound and long-lasting. The impact of 9/11 has extended beyond geopolitics into society and culture in general. Immediate responses to 9/11 included greater focus on home life and time spent with family, higher church attendance, and increased expressions of patriotism such as the flying of American flags. The radio industry responded by removing certain songs from playlists, and the attacks have subsequently been used as background, narrative or thematic elements in film, television, music, and literature.

References

  1. Excerpts From 'American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center'
  2. Five essential books about 9/11
  3. "Must-reads of a fateful day: some of Sept. 11's most notable books". Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  4. Book Critics' Group Names Finalists for Its Awards
  5. Rebutting a Claim of Tarnished Valor; Research Challenges Account of 9/11 Looting by Firefighters
  6. "The 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years". Slate . 2019-11-18. Archived from the original on 2023-07-23.

Further reading