The Only Plane In the Sky

 Shirley J.                 Adult Non-Fiction Historical                  First Person Accounts of 9/11 Experiences   The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff  560 pages

WOW!  This book will literally take your breath away it is that impactful.  It is told in the words of the people who experienced it first hand, both those who survived it and those who did not.   It is one after the other leading up to the event,  those on the ground or in the air during the event, chillingly those trapped in the inferno with no escape and those below watching in horror as it all unfolded around them.   Readers will feel the chill of the hijackers' words as they took over the plane, feel the realization of the passengers and loved ones knowing there is no way out and the helplessness of those trying to respond to this shocking act of terror while being helpless to stop it.   The book brought up something I hadn't realized before, many people made it down and out of the building only to die during the sudden impact of the bodies of jumpers falling on top of them.    Many firefighters died in that rain of bodies from above, too.   They describe the horrid sounds this made.   The sheer thought of people running forward out of the towers in relief to what they thought was safety only to die on the ground under the body of a desperate person choosing suicide over being burned up by 1800+ degree incinerating fire, or from choking to death on the fumes from the gas leaking from the jet engine or the smoke pouring everywhere or imploding in one of the multitudinous explosions as windows blew out and pulled some victims out to their death.   Some victims lost their lives trying to help others.   Some people followed protocol and obeyed the directive, "Stay where you are, don't move, responders are on their way and know where you are."   That was the massive chaos at the twin towers before, during, then after the attack followed by the inthinkable collapsing of both towers.   But there were two more hijacked planes, one crashing into the Pentagon another stopped from its wretched mission by passengers who rose up to fight the terrorists on that plane which crashed in a field.   Oh, wow.   This book brings so much of that whole sensory experience right to the reader.    Like I said, it will literally take your breath away.   A good book, a factual encounter that the reader will not forget and a teaching experience in that everything you may have thought you knew about that awful time is only a speck on the top of what actually transpired.   It is a nightmare.  Having said that, I do feel that everyone should experience as much of this book as they can even if they cannot finish it, know as much of what really happened.  Too intense for the very young, even the young, but certainly, high schoolers on up and I would recommend this book be on every high school and college reading list.