“New York September 11” by Magnum Photographers (Powerhouse Books):
This is 9/11 in its purest form. As befitting a legendary photo agency, the Magnum book offers photographs straight-up, with few words. The pictures are beautiful and the vast spreads feel intimate. The shots begin on the 11th and follow the city through mourning, then reach back to document the towers when they were still standing.
“September 11, 2001 A Record Of Tragedy, Heroism, and Hope” by the editors of New York (Harry N. Abrams):
The most seemingly lightweight of the collection–with its grainy cover photo and thin spine–this book is actually quite powerful. In fact, it’s nearly overwhelming. Its “88 photographs, including 78 in color” come fast and hard. And many of the photos you’ve never seen before. Or maybe it just feels that way.
“New York September Eleven Two Thousand One” (de.MO):
A sleek, Euro-style mish-mash of dressed-up pictures and a design that makes some pages look like e.e. cummings poems. A Joan Rivers essay? Matthew Modine poetry? Why? One interesting sidenote is a reproduction of the front page of the New York Times that was on the stands that morning; at the bottom is a tiny headline reading AFGHAN REBEL’S FATE UNCLEAR.
Life’s “One Nation, America Remembers September 11, 2001,” introduction by Mayor Giuliani (Little, Brown):
Life is clearly still the name we trust most to explain it all to us; this is the group’s best seller. The book is the thorough accounting you expect from the brand, starting here with the building of the towers. With a textbook’s conscientiousness, it chronicles the hijacked planes’ flight paths, the exact minute each event took place, and the faces of those who died and survived. The last photograph was taken on Oct. 11, as a pilot climbs into the cockpit of an F-18 on the USS Enterprise somewhere in the Arabian Sea.
“Brotherhood,” edited by Tony Hendra with an introduction by Frank McCourt (American Express):
With an actual heaviness to match its weightiness, “Brotherhood” is the most coffee-table-ready of the lot. It’s also the most elegant, thanks to the creative might of the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, who conceived the book, and American Express, which lost 11 employees and underwrote the project. The usual heavy-handed talk of heroism is exchanged here for poignant photographs that celebrate the fireman’s way of life: a shot of 10 single beds in a room, all neatly made; boots standing proud and ready for action; a rumpled poster of Babe Ruth on the wall. A ticker tape of names of firemen runs along the bottom and strings together every lovely page.
“In The Line Of Duty, A Tribute to New York’s Finest And Bravest,” forewords by Bernard B. Kerik and Thomas Von Essen (Regan Books):
A small paperback that makes a big impression. Its photographs document the heroic effort after the fall, when New York’s Finest and Bravest would come to include metal workers and countless volunteers. The pictures here, like the one of policemen bowing their heads and holding hands, also commemorate loss. The images are adorned with quotes from the Bible to the president, not that any are necessary.
“September 11, 2001, A Collection of Newspaper Front Pages Selected by the Poynter Institute,” foreword By Max Frankel (Andrews McNeel):
An amazing thing happened on Sept. 12, too. Major newspapers around the world from Trujillo, Peru, to Hilton Head, S.C., all looked the same, yet no two were exactly alike. Some editors even chose not to show the towers at all, opting instead for people’s faces. Seen together here in one collection, they are a fascinating piece of history–and probably the most interesting book of all.
