Last Man Down

Richard Picciotto

All the images we have from September 11th are external - the attack, the collapse, the dust, the debris. For obvious reasons, there are no internal images of the horrors which unfolded inside the twin towers. This makes a written account such as this all the more valuable.

The author is a fire chief who, with several of his colleagues, survived the collapse of tower one. On the 35th floor of 1 WTC when they heard tower two collapse, an evacuation was ordered. On their way down they encounter a collection of disabled office workers and their able-bodied helpers whom they proceed to evacuate with them. They are on the 7th floor landing when the tower gives way, trapping them in pitch blackness under half a million tons of rubble.

This - and the ensuing rescue - is the stuff of real heroes. If a picture paints a thousand words, then equally a thousand words paint a picture. This is more than just one fireman's account of his experiences on that infamous day, it is also a meditation upon life, death, a sort of spiritual journey, if you will. It really set me thinking in ways I didn't expect to when I opened the book at page one. Written in an easy, gripping journalistic style, you really want to read this book. You owe it not only to the the author, but to his colleagues and all those inside and outside the services who lost their lives, and to their families for whom the day lives on.