(Applause Books). All over the country, people continue to build their personal memorials to the tragedy and heroism of September 11th. U.S. citizens, visitors, and residents alike have reevaluated their own lives, their futures, and their priorities as a result of these cataclysmic events. In this spirit of national contemplation, playwright Lavonne Mueller has created a moving collage of voices from all around America, a lasting dramatic portrait. These monologues, all emotional X-rays of national heartache and soul searching, contribute to the healing that will continue for months and years to come. Reading or performing these words will bear witness to the most horrific single event in American history since Pearl Harbor. These dramatic voices offer guidance, solace and inspiration, and above all, solidarity at a time when no American must feel alone. In the words of the American poet Theodore Roethke, "In a dark time, the eye begins to see." Mueller's work helps us to focus our vision.
Arising from the initial pain, anguish, fear, and hopelessness, young voices rise together to articulate the youthful consciousness of the watershed event of the 21st century. Written for and developed by high school actors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, "Voices from September 11th" presents the clear, candid and indomitable spirit of America's youth in the face of her greatest modern tragedy. 4-10m/5-17f, multiple interiors and exteriors. May be performed as full length, assembly length or as monologues. Bill Comeau, a writer, painter, musician and pastor is joined by theater educator, writer and pastor Don Bliss to present a play that celebrates the victory of the human spirit over calamity, fear, and grief.
About 3,000 people lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. Thousands more narrowly escaped, their survival a result of eerily prescient spur-of-the-moment decisions, acts of superhuman courage, the unfailing kindness of strangers, and, in some cases, fortuitous strokes of luck. September 11: An Oral History unites the voices of that day. It is at once a dramatic reminder of one of the most devastating events in history of the nation and a tribute to the spirit of cooperation and the outpourings of empathy that marked that day for so many people in the United States and abrad. Written and compiled by Dean E. Murphy, who covered the attacks on the World Trade Center for the New York Times, September 11: An Oral History presents vivid eyewitness accounts by those who rushed to the scene, as well as the stories of people around the country and abroad who watched as events unfolded on television and waited for news of friends, family, and acquaintances. A priest who runs an adoption center near the WTC paints an unforgettable portrait of what he calls "the meeting place of Hell and Earth that morning"; a businessman from Los Angeles in New York to conduct a training seminar recounts in breathstopping detail his descent with a blind colleague from the 78th floor of the North Tower; a senior at a high school; the owners of a small business in Arkansas describe their thoughts and feelings as they waited to hear from a customer who had become part of their lives though they had never actually met him; and a civilian employee at the Pentagon recalls giving up hope in a smoke-filled office, her hair on fire, only to be led to safety by the soothing voice of a colleague. Contributions from firefighters, police, and military personnel, and other rescue workers demonstrate the mixture of professionalism and humanity that justly elevated them, despite their own modesty, to the status of national heroes. There are stories, too, of those who narrowly missed being part of the mayhem--including a family of four who changed their plane reservations from one of the hijacked jets and others whose arrivals at work were delayed by unlikely coincidences and quirks of fate like forgetting to turn on the coffeepot the night before. The first and only oral history of September 11 that presents people from all walks of life, these poignant, often harrowing vignettes capture the grief, rage, and fear that gripped the nationj--and offer an intimate, inspiring look at the strengths that enabled us to move on.
I could have died that day. September 11, 2001 Monologues from Stuyvesant High School Tuesday, September 11, started off like any other day at Stuyvesant High School, located only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center. The semester was just beginning, and the students, faculty, and staff were ready to begin a new year. But within a few hours on that Tuesday morning, they would all share an experience that transformed their lives. Now, on the tenth anniversary of September 11th, we remember those who were lost and those who were forced to witness this tragedy. Here, in their own words, are the firsthand stories of a day we will never forget.
"The real voices of 9/11 are here, and they will echo down through history as a haunting reminder of loss and hope, courage and heroism." -- Tom Brokaw On September 11, 2001, waves of shock rippled through the country as the United States came under terrorist attack. Never Forget collects the unbelievably moving stories of survivors, rescue workers, volunteers, family members, and friends whose loved ones perished on that day -- from the moments the planes first struck the Twin Towers through the painstaking recovery efforts. As these unforgettable stories reveal, many Americans transcended their own confusion and despair to help one another escape, to offer one another kindness, and to affirm life in the face of catastrophe. This concert of voices shows, as never before, the heartbreaking grief and slow, but uplifting, healing process that the people of this nation have experienced individually and as one.
This book looks at the impact of the terrorist attacks of September 11 on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, profiles Asian American survivors and victims and includes the perceptions of community leaders, artists, and children.
“Better and more comprehensive than any prior account. . . . Those of us who lived through those days will find the book cathartic; those rising generations who were too young to remember 9/11, or who weren’t yet born, will find it revelatory.” — John Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission and author of The Ground Truth “With his rigorous research and moral clarity, Mitchell Zuckoff has provided us with an invaluable service. He has deepened our understanding of what happened on 9/11 and recorded the voices of the victims and the survivors. What’s more, he has ensured that we never forget.” —David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon Years in the making, this spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative is an unforgettable portrait of 9/11. This is a 9/11 book like no other. Masterfully weaving together multiple strands of the events in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Fall and Rise is a mesmerizing, minute-by-minute account of that terrible day. In the days and months after 9/11, Mitchell Zuckoff, then a reporter for the Boston Globe, wrote about the attacks, the victims, and their families. After further years of meticulous reporting, Zuckoff has filled Fall and Rise with voices of the lost and the saved. The result is an utterly gripping book, filled with intimate stories of people most affected by the events of that sunny Tuesday in September: an out-of-work actor stuck in an elevator in the North Tower of the World Trade Center; the heroes aboard Flight 93 deciding to take action; a veteran trapped in the inferno in the Pentagon; the fire chief among the first on the scene in sleepy Shanksville; a team of firefighters racing to save an injured woman and themselves; and the men, women, and children flying across country to see loved ones or for work who suddenly faced terrorists bent on murder. Fall and Rise will open new avenues of understanding for everyone who thinks they know the story of 9/11, bringing to life—and in some cases, bringing back to life—the extraordinary ordinary people who experienced the worst day in modern American history. Destined to be a classic, Fall and Rise will move, shock, inspire, and fill hearts with love and admiration for the human spirit as it triumphs in the face of horrifying events.
The effects of Sept. 11 are seen within contexts that range from Ground Zero to Afghanistan and Iraq. The book opens with the voices of 15 survivors of Sept. 11, 2001, and then goes on to listen to other voices including President Bush, Freud, Einstein and Lacan.
