After Ground Zero
Everyday Americans and the Unhealed Scars of 9/11
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:20th Aug '26
£25.00
This title is due to be published on 20th August, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
A deeply human account following 9/11 survivors and families over twenty-five years, revealing trauma, resilience, and the quest for truth and accountability, by a reporter who was there in 2001.
This first-hand reporting spanning from Ground Zero on the day of the 9/11 attacks through decades of trauma and healing offers a stark reminder of just how forcefully the events of September 11 and the war on terror have impacted the lives of countless Americans.
Mike Kelly was across the Hudson River when the two jets crashed into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in downtown Manhattan on September 11, 2001. His immediate goal was to get to the scene and gather some first-hand reporting to file on deadline. But this was just the first step of a decades-long journey through another kind of rubble, through the pain left behind and the unhealed scars of people’s lives in the wake of a terrorist attack.
After Ground Zero traces the lives of a diverse portrait of Americans forced to confront the pain and mystery of the terrorism that tore apart their lives beginning on that September morning. From Kelly’s on-the-ground reporting at Ground Zero to Iraq, the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Washington, D.C. and various spots in between, the book follows a line of survivors that range from first responders such as police, fire fighters, clergy, and construction workers, to soldiers deployed overseas, loved ones of those killed, and numerous others as they search for answers, policy changes, reparations and accountability, faith, and healing. Kelly’s up-close storytelling is a powerful reminder of just how impactful the 9/11 attacks were and the ripple effect they have had in the decades that followed.
"Mike Kelly has written a supercharged 21st century tractate on the day we all wish we could forget but never can and, he makes abundantly clear, never should. After Ground Zero is a searing global, political, legal, social, moral, and generational account of a turning point in our history, researched impressively over decades, reported with insight and humility, and told in a way that should resonate for ages." * Anthony DePalma, journalist and author of On This Ground: Hardship and Hope at the Toughest Prep School in America , and City of Dust: Illness, Arrogance, and 9/11 *
“After Ground Zero by Mike Kelly is a raw, in-your-face reminder of that horrific Tuesday morning and the 25 years of pain and suffering since then. Real stories and real people who have lived with the horrors of the last 25 years. This well-orchestrated book personally brought me back to Ground Zero and the horrors that filled my memories the last two and half decades. Mike humanizes the sheer volume of pain felt by many—and the many scars that are still unhealed. Trust me: you will come out appreciating how precious life is and how vulnerable we all are." * John Feal, 9/11 responder, advocate, and author of I Will Follow You Anywhere *
"MIke Kelly's fine After Ground Zero tells how 9/11 still reverberates in us a quarter century later and why we should never forget it even if we were able. One way to honor the fallen is to read this book." * Michael Daly, columnist at The Daily Beast and author of The Book of Mychal *
“The Sept. 11 attacks were a quarter-century ago, and also yesterday. In After Ground Zero, Mike Kelly explores the continuing impact on workaday folks—the witnesses and the survivors, the cops and the priests, the investigators and the soldiers. This poignant book is laced with tragedy and with hope, the story not only of the horror of death but also of the resilience of life. Kelly arrived at Ground Zero on a tugboat from Jersey City just hours after the 9/11 attacks, and in a way he has never left. With a sharp eye and a compassionate heart, he explores the scars that have healed, and those that never will.” * Susan Page, Washington Bureau chief, USA TODAY, and author, The Queen and Her Presidents *
ISBN: 9798216383994
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
320 pages