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Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11 2nd Edition, Kindle Edition
The stories DiMarco has collected come from a diverse group of human beings: individuals who managed to escape from the Towers; the bereaved of 9/11; the policemen, firemen, paramedics, reporters, and volunteers who risked their lives to help others; eyewitnesses who stood in shock on the streets below the Towers; WTC structural engineers, political experts, political dissidents, small business owners, and, of course, children whose lives will be forever impacted by the horror and chaos they witnessed.
In the tradition of Studs Terkel, DiMarco's moving oral history chronicles the stories of everyone from the small group of people who miraculously made it safely down from the 89th floor of Tower 1 to the New York Times reporter trying desperately to fight her way through the fleeing crowds into Lower Manhattan, to the paramedic who set up a triage area 200 yards from the base of the Towers before they collapsed to the ordinary citizens of New York City who tried to get on with their lives in the days following the tragic event.
This expanded second edition of DiMarco's literary time capsule includes follow-up interviews that track contributors' lives in the years since 9/11, as well as dozens of never-before-published photographs.
- ISBN-13978-1595800213
- Edition2nd
- PublisherSanta Monica Press
- Publication dateAugust 1, 2007
- LanguageEnglish
- File size5.1 MB
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
". . .heart-breaking reminiscences by New Yorkers who survived the attack and then endured a decade of denial, doubt, and rebuilding."―The New York Times
"This volume defends the understanding, as also the horror, of that day. We are indebted to Mr. DiMarco for the effort and for the editorial acuity."―William F. Buckley, author and commentator
"The only widely available oral history of 9/11 from the perspective of New Yorkers, this monumental work has been updated for the sixth anniversary of the national tragedy. . . . DiMarco’s contribution to the memory of that horrific day is enormous; the testimonies collected here form an amazing, one-of-a-kind account.’―Publishers Weekly
"The material it offers is unique, a multitude of firsthand experiences preserved as few other 9/11 books have done. This second edition is expanded with many more photographs and with updates about a number of the witnesses interviewed. Recommended for all public and undergraduate libraries."― Library Journal
"I hope this book remains in print for a very long time to come because everyone should read it. Our children should read it."―Thomas Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission
About the Author
Damon DiMarco is the author of The Brown Agenda (with Richard Fuller), Heart of War: Soldiers’ Voices from the Front Lines in Iraq, and My Two Chinas: The Memoir of a Chinese Counter-Revolutionary (with Baiqiao Tang), as well as The Actor’s Art & Craft and The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character (both with William Esper).
DiMarco has been a guest on national television and radio, including FOX, CNN, The National Geographic Channel, and the Premiere Radio Network. He has been a guest speaker at colleges, universities, and community groups across the country.
A professional actor as well as a writer, Damon has appeared in primetime and daytime television programs on CBS, ABC, and NBC; commercials; independent films; regional theatres; and trade shows. He has written for the stage, television, and screen, and taught acting on the faculties of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey and the New York Film Academy in Manhattan. He teaches writing to PhD students in the History and Culture program at Drew University's Caspersen School of Graduate Studies.
Governor George Pataki was raised on a farm in Peekskill, N.Y. He attended Yale University on a scholarship and actively participated in politics on campus, including serving as the chairman of the college's Conservative Party. After graduating from Yale in 1967, Pataki attended Columbia Law School where he received his law degree in 1970.
Pataki first entered office a decade later when he became mayor of Peekskill in 1981. He was then elected to the New York State Assembly in 1984, and he served in that role until 1993, when he became a state senator. Pataki defeated Mario Cuomo in 1994 to become the first Republican governor of New York in 20 years. He remained in that role for three terms from 1995 to 2007. Pataki's service as governor was defined by his leadership during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
After leaving office, Pataki joined Chadbourne & Parke LLP as counsel on environmental and corporate matters. Pataki also founded a business development firm with John Cahill, the Pataki-Cahill Group.
Product details
- ASIN : B002PY72SW
- Publisher : Santa Monica Press; 2nd edition (August 1, 2007)
- Publication date : August 1, 2007
- Language : English
- File size : 5.1 MB
- Text-to-Speech : Not enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Not Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 528 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,496 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #554 in Terrorism (Kindle Store)
- #829 in 21st Century History of the U.S.
- #1,273 in History of Mid-Atlantic U.S.
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Damon DiMarco's books have been featured by The New York Times, MSNBC, CNN, FOX News, National Geographic Channel, and NPR/PBS.
His oral history work has been compared to that of Studs Terkel and the WPA Narratives. He also writes plays, screenplays, and novels in different genres including science fiction, epic fantasy, and crime.
As an actor, Damon has appeared in daytime and primetime TV shows on major networks, independent films, and regional theater. A founding member of New River Dramatists, he's has helped National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, and OBIE Award winners write the best stories they're capable of producing.
Damon is is also the founder of CreateX3, a consultancy that provides creative assistance to corporations, government agencies, think tanks, media companies, and private individuals. When time allows, he's the creator and host of CreateX3 on YouTube.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book fascinating and a must-read for Americans. They praise the writing quality as well-written and touching, with stories told from all perspectives. The author's narration is described as sensitive and caring. However, some readers felt the stories were heartbreaking and horrific.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book fascinating and enlightening. They say it's one of the best 9/11 books out there and a valuable contribution to literature. Readers also mention that the book is heartbreaking but necessary to read.
"This book is amazing!!! Should be required reading for all Americans!!! So very touching to read what these people went through!!..." Read more
"...This is a book that should be read by all...." Read more
"...The author is a fine writer who has made a valuable contribution to 9/11 literature...." Read more
"...Tower Stories, An oral History of 9/11 by Damon DiMarco is a must read novel and I for one will keep this book on my shelf so the coming..." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find the stories relatable and touching, with the author's sensitive and caring narration.
"...Should be required reading for all Americans!!! So very touching to read what these people went through!! It should stay with me forever!!" Read more
"...The stories read exactly as people talk, although I'm sure a great deal of editing was required...." Read more
"The book is well written and I am enjoying reading it...." Read more
"Well done and just amazing and interesting to read." Read more
Customers appreciate the storytelling from different perspectives. They find the narratives from all aspects of 9/11 to be masterpieces.
"...The stories come from a diverse group of individuals, each with different views and opinions...." Read more
"...One of the great things about this book is how it uses narratives from every aspect of 9/11--from people who were trapped and rescued in the building..." Read more
"Riveting accounts of what really happened! I couldn't put it down yet it was hard to read at times...." Read more
"...The stories in the book mean SO much and gives us a glimpse of how God is in control when things like 9/11 happen." Read more
Customers find the book heartbreaking but factual. They mention it's horrific and they don't care about the details.
"...After mourning the endlessly horrific ways people died, I didn't really care about the structural beauty of the Towers as expounded by an engineer,..." Read more
"This was a heartbreaking, but necessary book to read, because the history of the worst day of our generation deserved to be and needed to be told by..." Read more
"Heartbreaking but factual. A lot of information I had never heard before. Some of which I wish I hadn't known about...." Read more
Reviews with images

Book is Well Written But....
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2024This book is amazing!!! Should be required reading for all Americans!!! So very touching to read what these people went through!! It should stay with me forever!!
- Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2011I read this book over the course of two weeks. I found that I could not sleep for several nights. It brought back memories of what I was doing at the time that the news broke (I was at work and puzzled as to how a plane could crash into one of the Twin Towers). I naturally assumed it was a small private plane and maybe the pilot had some type of medical emergency. I finally got up and went into the area where the televisions were located and there among many other employees watched that terrible day unfold. None of us could believe what we were seeing. I had butterflies in my stomach for an entire year as it was one of the most shocking events to happen in my lifetime. Tower stories is an account of what those that were there experienced and the very personal stories about loved ones who perished. This is a book that should be read by all. We must never forget nor let future generations forget what happened that day and the sacrifices that were made to save others. We all know of the compromised health of so many of those who were there sacrificing their time and efforts to find survivors and who worked among so much toxic materials. The long-term effects of that day and the days that followed is ongoing. I have answered questions from my 8- year old grandson who is aware of what happened that day but not the true human stories of loss. That will come later.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2013With the opening of the Freedom Tower next year, I thought I should finally read first-hand accounts of the 9/11 attacks. Despite the passage of time, I've been unable to revisit that horrible day. I was close enough to the city to see the columns of black smoke, spent days (and in some cases, weeks) in agonizing worry not knowing whether friends and co-workers in the Towers and World Financial Center were alive, and then months reading the heartbreaking Portraits of Grief series in the New York Times.
Damon DiMarco talked with people immediately after the attacks, literally walking the streets and stopping passersby. The accounts he records have the ring of authenticity and immediacy. The author is channeling his inner Studs Terkel here! The stories read exactly as people talk, although I'm sure a great deal of editing was required. The author is a fine writer who has made a valuable contribution to 9/11 literature.
Although difficult to read, the book is one I am glad to have read. Toward the end of the book, my attention flagged, though, as the accounts widen out to include people whose stories seemed peripheral to me. After mourning the endlessly horrific ways people died, I didn't really care about the structural beauty of the Towers as expounded by an engineer, how Verizon got the stock market back up and running or the viewpoint of someone who was in L.A. at the time. And I really didn't want to read ruminations on the ethics of profiling airline passengers in the days immediately following the attacks.
I also had hoped for more insightful follow-up interviews. I want to know how the interviewees felt and thought about 9/11 today, not what plays they'd had produced in the intervening years, what shows they'd acted in or how many kids they had. The author may have been limited by who he could locate or what people wanted to say; one conversation with a paramedic who went on to be a skilled search-and-rescue medic is a great follow-up. Perhaps the author is working on updates like that to coincide with the opening of the Freedom Tower. I hope so.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2010It has always been a passion of mine to listen to the stories of my fellow man. While watching the horrific events that unfolded on September 11, I felt a need to hear the people's accounts, the voices of the men and woman who were involved personally. Tower Stories, An Oral History of 9/11 has collaborated a collection of reports that tells how the citizens of lower Manhattan coped during the attacks on the Word Trade Centre. It also shows the loyalty of those individuals living in New York City, who stepped up and volunteered their services in any way they could. The stories come from a diverse group of individuals, each with different views and opinions. Tower Stories, An oral History of 9/11 by Damon DiMarco is a must read novel and I for one will keep this book on my shelf so the coming generations in my family will learn and grow from this tragedy.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2021This was a heartbreaking, but necessary book to read, because the history of the worst day of our generation deserved to be and needed to be told by those who were there or directly affected.
Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. God forbid. Maybe future generations will get it right.
Highly recommended. Five stars.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2014Enjoyed the book very much until I neared the end and was faced with chapters regarding "what America has done wrong." I realize our country and society have in the past and continue to behave improperly in many instances. Other countries have added to the upheavals as well. What about "the other side of the coin?"
- Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2015I have a first edition that I think is the best on first account stories of what happened at World Trade on 9/11 and the days after. I bought another to give as a gift and the book was "updated" by some of the people that were initially interviewed. Unfortunately, some of these updated comments meandered into political commentary which actually detracts from the premise and purity of the book. I like it because it gives accounts from ordinary people as to what happened to them or their loved ones and it also has accountings by first responders. Truly a historical document. If you can get a copy of the first edition, take that rather than the updated versions.
Top reviews from other countries
- Debbie LeighReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of new stories from a diverse group of people
As someone who avidly reads books on 9/11, it was great to eventually to find a book that told stories from a diverse group of people’s viewpoint. Lots of photos I haven’t seen before, new stories of extraordinary bravery, sadness and resilience
- mike mcleanReviewed in Canada on April 26, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
great thank you
- FrancescaReviewed in Italy on August 29, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars precious memories
i found this book very interesting...because in the words of survivors you can actually feel what it felt like been on New York on September 11th. it's a very good book created by the story from who was there,who lived that day.Everyone should read this book. if you want to know more about what happened that morning in Manhattan this is the book for you.
- BAMReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2014
1.0 out of 5 stars not much actually from the day itself
this is nostalgic crap. It pads out the few interviews concerning peoples actions on the day itself with loads of flag waving pish about people affected by the aftermath, and how they coped etc
I want my 9/11 books to give insights into the events in the towers on the day itself. This is just a feel-good cash-in for vulnerable americans. Avoid