Here is New York: A Democracy of Photographs [Hardcover]

 

 

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I first heard about this book on CNN, a few months after 9/11. I would stop at the book in the bookstore, and flip through. I could never get through more than 10 pages because it was too emotional. I finally bought the book, over two years later, and after a personal tragedy of my own, made myself get through it. The book is composed of so many photographs that are only a split-second in time, I found myself wondering what happened of so many of the subjects -- the man who picked up and read a random piece of paper out of thousands that had been blown out of the building, the woman on page 281 who reminded me all too much of the little girl running away from her napalm-bombed village in Vietnam in the famous photograph. I was not in New York on September 11. I was bartending, in a bar in Atlanta, where every television was on the news, and the packed restaurant sat silent. Though I still can't imagine what it was like after viewing this book, I have realized that September 11 was so many different experiences to so many people. Snapshots of many of those, even one similar to mine, are portrayed, and reinforces the magnitude and impact the events had on so many.
To get on my soapbox for a while, the "severed leg" picture -- not only was this picture justified in being included, as well as the pictures of persons jumping from the buildings, it was absolutely necessary in conveying the events to future generations. When we think of the holocaust, 6 million people is a difficult concept to grasp. But when we see pictures of mass graves, people in the ghettos, etc., we realize the value of each individual person, and how each of them didn't deserve their fate. Similar is my sentiment toward the more gruesome photographs. Their inclusion was absolutely necessary to convey the death of each individual person -- the pain they left behind, the family that will miss them, and how each person didn't simply disappear into a 8x11 flyer with their smiling picture in it.
One of the most powerful things in the book is the quote from which the title "Here is New York" was taken -- a segment written 50 years ago by E.B. White, ironically the author of "Charlotte's Web," the story so many of us read as children. It expresses his fear of how New York, in all of its glory and modernization, was incredibly vulnerable. The passage is incredibly prophetic.
When I have children, and they ask about these events, as I did when I became curious as to where my parents were when JFK was assassinated, I will show them this book.
If you can handle the impact of this book, I highly reccommend it. It will make you appreciate your loved ones more, it will make you remember what so many went through.

Exhausted after wandering through lower Manhattan looking for friends lost, I came upon the Here Is New York storefront. No sign announced this storefront -- only a line of dazed people drifting inside, many clutching photos to be pinned to the clotheslines strung overhead. Nothing relates the stunning horror of that time, except these candid and brutal snapshots taken by regular people on that most irregular day. These photos convey the horrors for which there are no words. I can't look at this book without smelling the smoke all over again.

I just got this book and it is the most comprehensive book out there on September 11th of what happened that day. I went through it all in one day and after I was finished the thoughts and emotions that went through me on that day all came back.

There are some pretty disturbing photographs in there so I would not recommend it for children or even for family members who lost someone in the trade center. I am sure you have read already about the leg photo but there is another one that i was as disturbed by. It was the one of the north tower by the impact hole where the plane went in. There are actually people standing in the hole looking down not sure what to do. I had never seen that picture before and I started crying thinking what could be going through those people's desperate minds.

As the two year anniversary of this horrid day is quickly approaching, this book will be a testament to what we went through that day here in New York and should be in your library to always remember what we went through as a nation and overcame as a nation.

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5.0 out of 5 stars 9/11 as it happened
What happened on 9/11 was horrific, stunning and chilling. This book shows you what the scene was on that day and the days afterwards. Read more

Published on July 7 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
I first saw this book at a Barns & Noble in Manhattan. I picked it up and started flipping through the pages and remembered what it was like in Manhattan that day. Read more

Published on May 23 2003 by J. Gilbert

5.0 out of 5 stars A difficult but important book
HERE IS NEW YORK: A DEMOCRACY OF PHOTOGRAPHS is based on a museum collection of photographs taken by anyone who had access to "ground zero" during that tragic day, as... Read more

Published on Jan 29 2003 by Andrew Olivo Parodi

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Forget This Tragedy
We felt as helpless as everyone else watching the events unfold from the moment the planes hit the twin towers. We knew our son was down there volunteering the day after. Read more

Published on Jan 25 2003 by Angela Taranto

5.0 out of 5 stars TRAGIC YET BEAUTIFUL
Well done & would recommend to anyone. Don't let 1 picture in this book (the leg) keep you from buying it because it's the reality of what happened on 9/11. Read more

Published on Jan 7 2003 by T. Kastelic

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the One...
Like so many other reviewers of this book, I truly think this work stands out among the post 9/11 bunch. Read more

Published on Jan 6 2003 by JoJo

5.0 out of 5 stars Captions would only detract from the emotion of the photos.
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As someone who worked in the NYC financial district, my memories of September 11 are largely from ground level; this book's photos capture that ground level perspective, as... Read more

Published on Jan 2 2003 by Frank Lynch

5.0 out of 5 stars A contributing photographers view...
I admit... I am completely biased in my opinion, but I regard this book and exhibit as the MOST comprehensive view of this event any where. I was there. I saw it. Read more

Published on Dec 30 2002 by Nathan Blaney

5.0 out of 5 stars Sobering Reminder
I understand that some people below were shocked at finding the photo of a severed leg in this collection. Read more

Published on Dec 27 2002 by Robert Stribley

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting assortment...
All of these photos try to capture a moment in history that most people are probably still trying to digest, myself included. Read more

Published on Dec 24 2002 by C. Rushing

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