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| Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11 | 
 enlarge | Author: Lynn Spencer
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $15.95
You Save: $10.05 (39%)
New (33) Used (17) from $8.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 14228
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1416559256
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931
EAN: 9781416559252
ASIN: 1416559256
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
On the azure blue morning of 9/11 the skies were pronounced "severe clear," in the parlance of airline pilots; a gorgeous day for flying. Nearly 5,000 flights were cruising the skies over America when FAA Operations Manager Ben Sliney arrived at the Command Center for his first day on that job. He could never have anticipated the historic drama that was about to unfold as Americans who found themselves on the front lines of a totally unprecedented attack on our homeland sprang into action to defend our country and save lives. In this gripping moment-to-moment narrative, based on groundbreaking reporting, Lynn Spencer brings the inspiring true drama of their unflinching and heroic response vividly to life for the first time, taking us right inside the airliner cockpits and control towers, the fighter jets and the military battle cabs. She makes vital corrections to the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report, and reveals many startling, utterly unknown elements of the story. As a commercial pilot herself, for whom the attacks hit terribly close to home, she knew that the true scope and nature of the response so brilliantly improvised that morning by those in the thick of the action -- with so little guidance from those at the highest levels -- had not at all been captured by the news coverage or the 9/11 Commission. To get to the truth, she went on a three-year quest, interviewing hundreds of key players, listening to untold hours of tapes and pouring through voluminous transcripts to re-create each heart-stopping moment as it happened through their eyes and in their words as the drama unfolded. From the shocking moment at 7:59 a.m. that American 11 fails to respond to a controller's call, until the last commercial flight has safely landed and military jets rule the skies, all Americans will find themselves deeply moved and amazed by the grace and fierce determination of these steely men and women as they draw on all of their exquisite training to grasp, through the fog of war, what is happening, put their lives on the line, and mount an astonishing response. This beautifully crafted and deeply affecting account of the full story of their courageous actions is a vital addition to the country's understanding of a day that has forever changed our nation.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
 Riveting May 31, 2008
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
Touching History is the fast-paced and riveting story of what was happening in the skies on 9/11--a story that up to now has never been told. Lynn Spencer takes us into into the military and FAA control centers and into the cockpits of commercial airliners and military jets that day as everyone struggles to first understand what is happening and then what to do about it. The story is not as much about technology or military jargon as much as the human element. It weaves tales of heroism and bravery while also doing a great job of capturing the confusion in the skies that fateful day. Be forewarned--this book is hard to put down once started!
Heart and Soul June 3, 2008
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Mere words cannot begin to describe the gripping reality that Ms. Spencer captured in this book. From the cockpits of jet fighters, to the flight deck of the airliners, to those who tried to make sense of it all from behind radar screens, Ms. Spencer captured the anxiety, frustration, complexity, and at times, feeling of helplessness of all those who tried desperately to protect this country. This isn't a book so much about the what happened nearly as much as it is about those whose blood, sweat and tears went into their attempts to stop it and then come to grips with it. Having spent over 3 years of her life dedicated to this project, Ms. Spencer went to the people and listened to their stories, heard the quiver in their voices and saw the pain in their eyes as they spoke. This book takes you there. It puts you on the "inside" to see first hand what was happening and allows you to witness the many obstacles that had to somehow be overcome to fight against a never before seen enemy using a never before heard of tactic against American civilians, on American soil. I can tell you that Ms. Spencer got it right and tells it in a manner anyone can understand and appreciate. She captured the heart and soul of everyone involved.
Like being there June 7, 2008
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
This is one of those rare books that are non-fiction, but pull you in like a great novel- just like you were there! The author, Lynn Spencer has done a superlative job of putting together the facts in a way that even though we know the eventual outcome we still want to read all the way to the end.
When I first began reading, I thought the story would center on the four hijacked flights- but those stories have already been largely told. Rather, she tells the "big picture" of how those four incidents touched off an incredible series of events that affected tens of thousands of people that day and how individuals in extremely tense and difficult circumstances made the decisions that kept a very bad situation from becoming catastrophic.
It can be seen in retrospect that our air traffic control system had many faults in dealing with this crisis, but it was the individuals involved that rose above the technical difficulties and "standard operating procedures" to make our skies safe that awful day.
This is their story and we all owe a debt of gratitude to them for what they accomplished- all of the air controllers, civilian and military, leadership on the ground and of course all of the many, many pilots and aircrew who had to deal with something completely extraordinary.
This book brought it all back and made me feel many of the same emotions I felt on 9/11.
Personally, I feel we all need to remember what took place that day so that it will NEVER happen again.
The 9/11 stories you haven't heard. July 8, 2008
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
I picked this book up at Costco two days ago having heard nothing about it. It tells the story of the response to the 9/11 attack as it was improvised by the military, the airline pilots and the air traffic controllers. A little bit of it was shown in the movie "United 93" but in that film it appeared that the military was completely ineffective. In fact, the military response was rapid and effective but the nation's air defense command was fighting to stay in existence at the time and had extremely limited capability. In an afterward to the book, General Larry Arnold tells how he was informed by a superior that, "If everyone would turn off CNN, there wouldn't be a threat from Osama bin Laden." General Arnold was, at the time, commander of the Continental U.S. North American Air Defense Command and the statement was made two weeks before 9/11. On September 7, 2001, the Secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff of the USAF decided to cut off funding for air defense. On 9/11, there were only 14 jet fighters available in the entire U.S. to be scrambled for an alert and all air defense units were National Guard, many of whose pilots were also airline pilots.
In spite of this critical weakness, by two hours after the first airliner hit the World Trade Center, there was a combat air patrol over Washington. They were there in time to stop United 93, had that been necessary. The rapid response by Air Force, Air National Guard and FAA personnel, often using telephones to relay information between incompatible communication systems, was totally improvised by the people involved. This story has not been told before and it makes a gripping tale.
It was not all locking the barn door after the horse was gone, either. In one of her accounts, the pilot of a grounded United Airlines flight is informed by his senior flight attendant that four young Arab men are seated in first class. The flight is evacuated and the four men disappear. Later, FBI agents find box cutters and al Qeada material in their abandoned luggage. My brother-in-law works for United Airlines and tells me that he has been told that as many as 11 flights had potential hijackers aboard that day and the rapid grounding of flights may have prevented other hijackings.
The author is an airline pilot and she has interviewed hundreds of people involved in the story. She deprecates her own writing skills but the book reads like a Tom Clancy novel. The most important fact here is that her story is true. I recommend it.
Must Read!!! June 3, 2008
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
For many of us in the military that struggled that day to help put an end to the aviation madness that took place, had stories and wanted them told. We didn't want recognition or reward, we simply wanted the American public to know what happened behind the closed gates of our bases, how hard we all tried to stop what was going on, and above all else, to not let it happen again. Lynn Spencer had a vision that our stories had value and must be shared. No one else out there was listening to us, asking the difficult questions about how we felt, or gathered the true facts the 9/11 Commission missed or ignored. She knew she had one shot to get this right...and she sure did. There is no other book like this and dare say, never will be. Every American should read this!
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