September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond Book

See my full review at ____.
This book broadened my understanding of the varying perspectives about the September 11 attacks. As a very young school teacher during the attacks, I only experienced the reactions of the junior high students and fellow staff in my small private school. At just 24 years of age, I was unable to fully grasp the import of many Americans' responses, from calling bin Laden evil to questioning the unbelievability of America coming under attack.
The authors of this collection, originally published in the weeks directly following the tragedy, are much more mature, many of them having experienced other wars and seen both sides of America's choices regarding sanctions and other imperialistic outreaches. While I didn't agree with many of the authors' perspectives (some considered Bush to be not just inept, but actually in cahoots with the Iraqi terrorist cell), I learned much from seeing their responses in the immediate aftermath. I think there is much to be gleaned from hearing various opinions, and especially from hearing their initial knee-jerk reactions. I would highly recommend this to mature readers (not because of language, but because of the subject matter and repeated references to humans falling through space).