The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001

by Garrett M. Graff Narrated by Holter Graham, Garrett M. Graff, Full Cast

Overview

2020 AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR AUDIE AWARD WINNER!

2020 MULTI-VOICED PERFORMANCE AUDIE AWARD WINNER!

Audio bonus! The audio edition includes an exclusive interview with Garrett Graff and Holter Graham as well as archival audio from United States Presidential addresses, In-Flight Communications, and Air Traffic Control.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“This is history at its most immediate and moving...A marvelous and memorable book.” -Jon Meacham

¿“Remarkable...A priceless civic gift...On page after page, a reader will encounter words that startle, or make him angry, or heartbroken.” -The Wall Street Journal

“Had me turning each page with my heart in my throat...There's been a lot written about 9/11, but nothing like this. I urge you to read it.” -Katie Couric

The first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001-a panoramic narrative woven from voices on the front lines of an unprecedented national trauma.

Over the past eighteen years, monumental literature has been published about 9/11, from Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower to The 9/11 Commission Report. But one perspective has been missing up to this point-a 360-degree account of the day told through firsthand.

Now, in The Only Plane in the Sky, Garrett Graff tells the story of the day as it was lived-in the words of those who lived it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, declassified documents, original interviews, and oral histories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members, he paints the most vivid and human portrait of the September 11 attacks yet.

Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker under the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down. In the skies above Pennsylvania, civilians aboard United 93 make the ultimate sacrifice in their place. Then, as the day moves forward and flights are grounded nationwide, Air Force One circles the country alone, its passengers isolated and afraid.

More than simply a collection of eyewitness testimonies, The Only Plane in the Sky is the historic narrative of how ordinary people grappled with extraordinary events in real time: the father and son caught on different ends of the impact zone; the firefighter searching for his wife who works at the World Trade Center; the operator of in-flight telephone calls who promises to share a passenger's last words with his family; the beloved FDNY chaplain who bravely performs last rites for the dying, losing his own life when the Towers collapse; and the generals at the Pentagon who break down and weep when they are barred from trying to rescue their colleagues.

At once a powerful tribute to the courage of everyday Americans and an essential addition to the literature of 9/11, The Only Plane in the Sky weaves together the unforgettable personal experiences of the men and women who found themselves caught at the center of an unprecedented human drama. The result is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.

Editorial Reviews

FEBRUARY 2020 - AudioFile

This powerful audiobook is narrated by an appropriately understated but very talented cast. The author and narrators take us back to one of the most consequential days in recent history—September 11, 2001. The cast chosen for this oral history, led by Holter Graham, is exceptional. They set the right tone of reverence, respect, and awe. No voice is overstated, no emotion too raw. The stories tell themselves, and their power needs no embellishment. Voices, including one from the International Space Station, are familiar and unfamiliar, as are the views they express. The production will either remind listeners of that tragic day or make clear to those too young to recall it the reasons that 9/11 left such an imprint on the memories of those who lived through it. J.P.S. 2020 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR RAVEN ROCK

“Comically macabre . . . A thorough investigation of Washington’s longstanding efforts to maintain order in the face of catastrophe. In exploring the incredible lengths (and depths) that successive administrations have gone to in planning for the aftermath of a nuclear assault, Graff deftly weaves a tale of secrecy and paranoia. . . . Raven Rock is at heart a history of the Cold War and an exploration of its lasting effects on American politics. Graff’s portrait of that era is more Dr. Strangelove than James Bond.” —The New York Times Book Review

“An encyclopedic chronicle of how the American government, for more than sixty years, has prepared for nuclear attack, most notably with bunkers underground and inside mountains to shelter government officials and other personnel—men and women who could retaliate against the enemy with nuclear weapons and begin to rebuild society. Raven Rock contains everything one could possibly want to know about these seemingly still-continuing measures to confront Armageddon.” —The Wall Street Journal

“In a new book exploring United States officials’ detailed doomsday plans during the Cold War, writer and historian Garrett Graff presents a look at how nuclear disaster preparation shaped the modern world. . . . Through his research, Graff reveals how ineffective plans for nuclear disaster actually are when put into action. The problem with org charts and instructions? Humans.” —Time magazine

“There are details in Raven Rock that read like they’ve been ripped from the pages of a pulp spy novel. The book, written by national security expert Garrett M. Graff, takes us inside the bunkers cut into granite mountainsides and dug under an elite country club. He brings us deep beneath the White House on 9/11 and into the cockpit of an airplane that doesn’t officially exist. As you make your way through Raven Rock, it’s easy to forget that all this elaborate high-tech doomsday infrastructure is actually real. . . . Raven Rock, which should have been a Cold War history, now feels especially timely, hitting bookstores right as a President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un’s on-again, off-again relationship pushes us ever closer to nuclear holocaust.” —Vice

“A chilling portrait of how the government planned to continue to function during and after a nuclear holocaust is brilliantly told in this new valuable addition to Cold War literature that goes beyond policy and delves into logistical plans. Graff mines classified and unclassified material to create this highly informative work.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Raven Rock is gripping from page one. Brilliantly sourced and reported with exquisite detail, Garrett Graff’s new book is terrifying, outrageous, and illuminating.” —Annie Jacobsen, author of Area 51 and Phenomena

“You may think you have some idea of how the United States prepared for nuclear war, but you will be shocked, appalled, amazed, fascinated, darkly amused, and just plain gob-smacked by what Garrett Graff has dug up. Deeply researched and lucidly written, Raven Rock is a haunting, compelling journey into the past—with disturbing meaning for the future.” —Evan Thomas, author of Ike’s Bluff and Being Nixon

“In this spellbinding narrative, Graff reveals the top secret plans the government has for its own survival and asks the reader to consider a nightmarish scenario. Crammed with new revelations—from the locations of secret bunkers hidden in the nation’s small towns and dense woods to the ever-changing presidential evacuation plan—Graff carefully considers what would happen if the unthinkable occurred. I could not put it down.” —Kate Andersen Brower, author of The Residence and First Women

“Garrett Graff has given us a colorful and frightening account of the American government’s plans for doomsday, and the secret bunkers where official could go to save themselves. These early plans still have their counterparts today, and they reveal a lot about how warfighting doctrine evolved. Read it and be fascinated—and a little scared.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Einstein

“Equal parts thriller, sober history, and tragic comedy, Garrett Graff’s Raven Rock is an indispensable volume for anyone seeking to understand how the Cold War and the specter of nuclear annihilation shaped the world. Graff is a meticulous researcher and truly gifted storyteller. Readers will find themselves mesmerized by his careful and fast-paced examination of our government’s top-secret plans to survive a nuclear attack while the rest of us are turned to ash.” —Del Quentin Wilber, author of Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan

“A detailed exploration of the United States’ doomsday prepping during the Cold War . . . Graff, a former editor of Washingtonian and Politico magazines, covers every technicality of the construction of underground bunkers and secret command posts, every war game and exercise, every debate over presidential succession planning and continuity of government, every accident that left us verging on nuclear war. . . . But if there is anything that Raven Rock proves with grim certitude, it is that we have little idea how events would have unfolded in a superpower nuclear conflict, and that technological limits, human emotion and enemy tactics can render the most painstaking and complex arrangements irrelevant, obsolete, or simply obscene.” —Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

FEBRUARY 2020 - AudioFile

This powerful audiobook is narrated by an appropriately understated but very talented cast. The author and narrators take us back to one of the most consequential days in recent history—September 11, 2001. The cast chosen for this oral history, led by Holter Graham, is exceptional. They set the right tone of reverence, respect, and awe. No voice is overstated, no emotion too raw. The stories tell themselves, and their power needs no embellishment. Voices, including one from the International Space Station, are familiar and unfamiliar, as are the views they express. The production will either remind listeners of that tragic day or make clear to those too young to recall it the reasons that 9/11 left such an imprint on the memories of those who lived through it. J.P.S. 2020 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171061098
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	09/10/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	642,724

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