Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11 (20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition)

Damon DiMarco's Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11 (20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition), eternally preserves a monumental tragedy in American history through the voices of the people who were in New York City on that fateful day. At the same time, the individuals featured in the book speak to the myriad ways by which Americans rose to meet the challenges presented by 9/11, and celebrates the many heroes that are found within its pages.

In the tradition of Studs Terkel, DiMarco's literary time capsule includes a wide variety of viewpoints, including: The small group of people who miraculously made it safely down from the 89th floor of Tower 1, the New York Times reporter who desperately fought her way through the fleeing crowds to get back into Lower Manhattan, the paramedic who set up a triage area 200 yards from the base of the Towers before they collapsed, and the bereaved citizens of New York City who struggled to get on with their lives in the days and months following the tragic event, among dozens of others.

The original edition of Tower Stories was one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed books on 9/11 ever published, and for this 20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition, DiMarco has conducted additional interviews that offer a contemporary perspective on the 9/11 tragedy. The individuals DiMarco interviewed for the new edition include:

• Alice Greenwald (President and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum)

• Father Jim Martin (New York Times bestselling author)

• Tom Haddad (survivor of the 89th floor, Tower 1)

• Stephen Adly Guirgis (Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright).

The 20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition of DiMarco's moving oral history preserves all of the voices from the original edition for generations to come, while offering new insights that benefit from twenty years of reflection on the world-shattering event.

The voices in Tower Stories are in turn haunting and heartbreaking, always emotional, yet ultimately heroic. It’s no wonder that MSNBC called Tower Stories “Arguably the most successful attempt at capturing the enormity of the events of 9/11,” while Publishers Weekly wrote that “DiMarco’s contribution to the memory of that horrific day is enormous; the testimonies collected here form a one-of-a-kind account.”

Damon DiMarco is the author of The Brown Agenda (with Richard Fuller), Heart of War: Soldiers’ Voices from the Front Lines in Iraq, and My Two Chinas: The Memoir of a Chinese Counter-Revolutionary (with Baiqiao Tang), as well as The Actor’s Art & Craft and The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character (both with William Esper).

DiMarco has been a guest on national television and radio, including FOX, CNN, The National Geographic Channel, and the Premiere Radio Network. He has been a guest speaker at colleges, universities, and community groups across the country.

A professional actor as well as a writer, Damon has appeared in primetime and daytime television programs on CBS, ABC, and NBC; commercials; independent films; regional theatres; and trade shows. He has written for the stage, television, and screen, and taught acting on the faculties of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey and the New York Film Academy in Manhattan. He teaches writing to PhD students in the History and Culture program at Drew University's Caspersen School of Graduate Studies.

Governor George Pataki was raised on a farm in Peekskill, N.Y. He attended Yale University on a scholarship and actively participated in politics on campus, including serving as the chairman of the college's Conservative Party. After graduating from Yale in 1967, Pataki attended Columbia Law School where he received his law degree in 1970.

Pataki first entered office a decade later when he became mayor of Peekskill in 1981. He was then elected to the New York State Assembly in 1984, and he served in that role until 1993, when he became a state senator. Pataki defeated Mario Cuomo in 1994 to become the first Republican governor of New York in 20 years. He remained in that role for three terms from 1995 to 2007. Pataki's service as governor was defined by his leadership during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

After leaving office, Pataki joined Chadbourne & Parke LLP as counsel on environmental and corporate matters. Pataki also founded a business development firm with John Cahill, the Pataki-Cahill Group.