Out of the Blue: A Narrative of September 11, 2001 - Softcover

Richard Bernstein; The New York Times

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805074104 ISBN 13: 9780805074109

Publisher: Times Books, 2003

Synopsis

Following the lives of heroes, victims, and terrorists of September 11, 2001, Richard Bernstein, one of The New York Times's most skillful journalists, weaves the complex tale of a multitude of lives colliding in conflagration on that fateful morning. Bernstein takes us inside the al-Qaeda organization and introduces us to police officers and firefighters as well as some of the Trade Center workers who were lost on that day. And we follow the lives of the rest of America in the hours and days after the attack.

This riveting, incisive, and authoritative account is destined to stand as the essential chronicle of this singular moment in our history.

About this title

About the Author:

In twenty years with The New York Times, Richard Bernstein has served as bureau chief at the United Nations and in Paris, as national cultural reporter, and currently as a daily book critic. He has written five books, most recently Ultimate Journey. He lives in New York City.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Excerpted from Out of the Blue: A Narrative of September 11, 2001 by Richard Bernstein, Staff of the New York Times. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"By the night of September 10, all nineteen men were in their final staging areas—at hotels in Newark, in Maryland, in Boston, and in Portland, Maine. They had a final sheet of instructions provided by Atta that told them what they were supposed to do in their final night on earth. They were to shave excess hair from their bodies. They were to read al-Tawba and Anfal, the traditional war chapters in the Koran and to reflect on the things that God has promised the martyrs. 'Remind your soul to listen and obey,' the instructions read. 'And remember that you will face decisive situations that might prevent you from one hundred percent obedience, so tame your soul, purify, convince it, make it understand, and incite it.'

Probably the men read those paragraphs and reflected on the magnificent deeds they would accomplish for the sake of God and His glory the next morning. Still, there is an almost poignant gesture by one of them, Ziad Jarrah, the young Lebanese who had asked his parents for $700 so he could have some fun. Early on the morning of September 11 he called his girlfriend in Germany. Later she told police that he sounded normal. He said that he loved her.

Copyright © 2002.

About this edition

• Publisher: Times Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0805074104
• ISBN 13: 9780805074109
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336