num_pages: 624
description: Writing with access to thousands of recently released official documents, new interviews &amp; perspectives coming from a decade of research &amp; reflection, Anthony Summers &amp; Robbyn Swan deliver the 1st panoramic, authoritative look at 9/11. For many Americans, 9/11/2001, is the darkest date in the nation's history. What exactly happened? Could it have been prevented? How &amp; why did so much acrimony &amp; bad information arise from the ashes of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon &amp; a Pennsylvania field? What remains unresolved? What is certain: Discord &amp; dissent continue to this day. Beginning with the 1st brutal actions of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, The Eleventh Day tracks the sequence of events &amp; introduces the players: pilots, terrorists, passengers &amp; those who died on the ground. Drawing on previously classified records &amp; raw transcripts, Summers &amp; Swan investigate the response of President Bush &amp; the military that day, &amp; the failure to intercept the hijacked airliners. They document the untruths told afterward by US officials &amp;, as counterpoint, consider the contentions of the 9/11 Truth movement. With meticulous research, they examine the personalities of those behind the onslaught, analyze their motives &amp; expose the US intelligence blunders preceding the attacks. They note how afterward--without good evidence--the Bush administration tried to link 9/11 to Iraq. Finally, they confront the question the 9/11 Commission's report blurred: Were the terrorists backed by powerful figures in a foreign nation long viewed as a friend? Riveting, revelatory, thoroughly sourced &amp; complete with extensive endnotes, The Eleventh Day is the essential one-volume work on a pivotal event.
language: English
title: The Eleventh Day: 9/11 - The Ultimate Account
publisher: Ballantine Books/Random House (NYC)