American Ground

Unbuilding the World Trade Center

By: William Langewiesche

Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson

Noted author, war correspondent, and award-winning writer for the Atlantic Monthly, William Langewiesche furnishes a riveting firsthand account of the excavation of the World Trade Center ruins following its destruction on September 11, 2001. American Ground is an inspiring look at the often contentious mixture of personalities, politics, and emotions that fueled this massive effort. It is also a testament to American ingenuity in the aftermath of a great tragedy.©2002 William Langewiesche (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"The most thoughtful and original [9-11] book to appear so far is American Ground, William Langewiesche's meticulous description of the rescue effort at Ground Zero and the subsequent excavation of the 1.8 million tons of debris at the literal and emotional heart of this calamity. Langewiesche was granted almost unlimited access to the site and the rescue staff, and he made the most of the privilege." (Newsweek)
"This is a genuinely monumental story, told without melodrama, an intimate depiction of ordinary Americans reacting to grand-scale tragedy." (Publishers Weekly)

Excellent account of the work done.

The details given were amazing. The things you never really heard about. Well worth it. The narration took a while to adjust to with the heavy breaths constantly in your ear. I almost stopped listening in the beginning. Mic too close or something.

What a story!

This book was controversial upon its initial release. However, the audio version does it great justice. The narrator wonderfully captures the very objective nature of the author's focus. Read it. There are more heroes to the 9/11 WTC tragedy than most are aware of, and this book describes some of them.

unfortunate

Thought is was rather bland and was a little disillusioning. I prefer to think all were heros.

Educational

I found this book hard to put down. This is a story I needed to hear.

The narrator s tone guaranteed to put u to sleep. Couldn't even get thru chap. 1

Narrator is great if you are having problems getting to sleep. Could not make it thru chap 1. I hope there is no charge for this.