Title:
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral
History of 9/11
Author:
Garrett M. Graff
Read
by: A 45 Person Cast with Holter Graham
and the Author
Publisher:
Simon & Shuster Audio
Length:
Approximately 15 hours and 55 minutes
Source:
Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.
Thank-you!
On
September 11th, I was a twenty-three-year-old graduate student at
Michigan Technological University. I was
teaching a hydraulics lab that morning when my undergraduate research assistant
stopped by to tell me a plane had flown into the world trade center. I thought that was a strange accident. After the lab ended, I went out in the
hallway and noticed a group of students gathered around the TV that usually
only showed event slides. The TV was
strangely showing live coverage and the sound was on. It was then that I knew it was not an
accident and that the United States was under attack.
Everyone
who was alive on September 11th has their own personal narrative and
remembers exactly where they were and likes to share their story. I’ve heard so many interesting stories over
the years. Author Garrett Graff made the inspired decision to collect the oral
narratives of those that survived the day and put them together to make a
complex narrative of the story of 9/11. Narratives
include those from the top including George Bush, Laura Bush, Rudy Giuliani
down to those that were receiving calls from the people on the planes, rescue
responders, those fleeing the scenes, etc.
As
the audiobook unfolded in real time occurrence of events, it gave a
comprehensive story of the confusion, horror, and bravery that occurred on
9/11. I learned a lot that I hadn’t
known during 9/11 and the aftermath, and it gave me a lot to think about. What I really loved and appreciated was
through the horror, everyone’s first response was to help other people. It was uplifting to hear in such a tragic
book. As Mr. Roger’s said, “When I was a
boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look
for the helpers. You will always find
people who are helping.’”
I also was fascinated and disturbed at how
efficient the secret service was able to get those in power out of DC, but it
also seemed not efficient with them being out of direct contact with other
decision makers.
Author
Garrett Graff stated in the introduction that this book is for the young people
who were not alive during 9/11 to understand the chaos and mass confusion at
the time. Now it is standard to have the
full searches and security at the airport, but it didn’t use to be that
way. It’s also standard to just expect
bad things to happen, but this audiobook really shows the shock and confusion
of the day. No one expected or had ever
imagined that a commercial airliner could be used as a weapon. It’s amazing to think that students who
started college this fall might not have been born when 9/11 happened. This audiobook was a true living history and
great tribute to all who lost their lives on that day.
The
title comes from a great opening with the narrative of astronaut Frank Culbertson
watched the 9/11 attacks take place from the international space station. As he tried to watch and photograph from
space, an eerie scene took place. He
noticed there were no plane contrails at all in the sky over the United
States. There was only one heading north
from Florida. The only plane in the sky
was President George W. Bush.
I
loved that the audiobook contained an interview at the end between the author Garrett
Graff and the main narrator, Holton Graham.
They both told their 9/11 stories and how this book came to be. It was fascinating. The entire way this
audiobook was put together was inspired.
Having such a large cast to give voice to the different narratives
worked wonderfully well. I couldn’t stop
listening to this audiobook. It was the
best audiobook I have ever had the pleasure to listen to or review. I feel like I can’t really give it enough accolades
and I could keep writing about it all day.
I will stop and just say, please listen to this audiobook yourself. It is an important part of our history.
The
Only Plane in the Sky is an engrossing, riveting audio narrative of 9/11. This is the best audiobook of 2019 and is a “must
listen.”
What
is your 9/11 story?
