Brotherhood

There could not be a greater contrast than between the cold engineering that leveled the twin towers and the response of the 343 New York firefighters who rushed in to their deaths. Those men are honored in this collection of evocatively understated photographs showing all 70 of the city's affected firehouses, from Red Hook's company of "Happy Hookers" to Harlem's "Fire Factory."

The pictures by 50 noted photographers show the firehouses in all attitudes of mourning and recovery, crowded with donated flowers, candles, homemade signs, and children's drawings (some from as far as Mississippi) that have helped buoy up the survivors in the months since the attack. These displays are evidence of a popular rediscovery of firefighters, writes McCourt in his pitch-perfect foreword to the book. All of September 11's FDNY dead are listed delicately across the bottom of the pages of portraits of the lost men's firehouse beds, wall-posters, empty lockers, boots, and heat-darkened helmets, as well as their squad mates struggling on. -- Nathan Ward, "Library Journal" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

More items may be found on our Remember 9/11 booklist.

Blurbs from the Backlist highlights items in the Des Moines Public Library collections that are currently available, meaning, you could take one home today!