Audiobook11 hours
The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11
Written by John Farmer
Narrated by Patrick Lawlor
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
As senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, John Farmer led the team charged with reconstructing the tragedies of 9/11 and assisted in writing The 9/11 Commission Report. But many of the relevant records remained classified when the report was written, and the "ground truth" of the day was further obscured by the fundamentally false version of events that the government presented to Congress, the commission, and the media.
Now, drawing on records that have only recently been released, Farmer has written a definitive account that captures the full suspense and ultimate tragedy of 9/11 and enlarges-and breathtakingly revises-our understanding. He tells the story in shrinking units of time, plotting the progress of the "planes conspiracy" as the U.S. government had years, then months, then weeks, days, and finally, excruciating minutes and seconds to interdict or disrupt the attacks. This approach casts key moments in a new and startling light; the frantic efforts of air traffic controllers and fighter pilots to foil the attacks on 9/11 are revealed not as isolated acts of desperation but as the trailing, inevitable consequence of years of policy debates and failed post–Cold War attempts to "reinvent government." And as he leads us through the aftermath of the attacks, Farmer makes the inescapable case that "at some level of the government, at some point in time...there was a decision not to tell the truth about what happened."
What emerges is a portrait of a government that has institutionalized failure and rewarded deception. Executive departments fight for turf then deflect responsibility. Top officials, who set policy, are radically estranged from the career professionals who carry it out. The result has proven, quite literally, catastrophic-in the face of the surprise attacks of 9/11 and, as Farmer explores, in response to a long-anticipated natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, as well. He shows powerfully that until we undertake the genuine, from-the-ground-up reinvention of government that the ground truth of 9/11 demands, we remain terrifyingly unprepared for the next time catastrophe strikes.
Now, drawing on records that have only recently been released, Farmer has written a definitive account that captures the full suspense and ultimate tragedy of 9/11 and enlarges-and breathtakingly revises-our understanding. He tells the story in shrinking units of time, plotting the progress of the "planes conspiracy" as the U.S. government had years, then months, then weeks, days, and finally, excruciating minutes and seconds to interdict or disrupt the attacks. This approach casts key moments in a new and startling light; the frantic efforts of air traffic controllers and fighter pilots to foil the attacks on 9/11 are revealed not as isolated acts of desperation but as the trailing, inevitable consequence of years of policy debates and failed post–Cold War attempts to "reinvent government." And as he leads us through the aftermath of the attacks, Farmer makes the inescapable case that "at some level of the government, at some point in time...there was a decision not to tell the truth about what happened."
What emerges is a portrait of a government that has institutionalized failure and rewarded deception. Executive departments fight for turf then deflect responsibility. Top officials, who set policy, are radically estranged from the career professionals who carry it out. The result has proven, quite literally, catastrophic-in the face of the surprise attacks of 9/11 and, as Farmer explores, in response to a long-anticipated natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, as well. He shows powerfully that until we undertake the genuine, from-the-ground-up reinvention of government that the ground truth of 9/11 demands, we remain terrifyingly unprepared for the next time catastrophe strikes.
Related to The Ground Truth
Related audiobooks
9/11/2001, The Day America Died: Three Buildings Two Planes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop it Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oklahoma City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Conspiracy Theories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies over America on 9/11 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5TOWERS: 9/11 Story Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5102 Minutes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 9/11 Commission Report Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of the Shadow of 9/11: An Inspiring Tale of Escape and Transformation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Parkland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Report from Ground Zero: The Story of the Rescue Efforts at the World Trade Center Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impact: The Story of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Decade of Hope: Stories of Grief and Endurance from 9/11 Families and Friends Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies That Created The Parkland Shooter and Endanger America's Students Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don't Look Back: The 343 FDNY Firefighters Killed on 9-11 and the Fight for the Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Newtown: An American Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mastermind: The Many Faces of the 9/11 Architect, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5JFK Has Been Shot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Survive the Titanic: Or, The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
History For You
Swingtime for Hitler: Goebbels’s Jazzmen, Tokyo Rose, and Propaganda That Carries a Tune Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mary Magdalene: Women, the Church, and the Great Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cook County ICU: 30 Years of Unforgettable Patients and Odd Cases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of American Cemeteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heretic's Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story of Art Without Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Ground Truth
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
4/5
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Odd title, odd thesis, odd editing, odd book. A considerable amount of the middle portion of the book comprises page upon page of transcripts of NORAD talking to FAA. It could have been severely edited with author explanation, instead. The excerpts about alleged slow emergency response (how does one mobilize a Country fro war within 45 minutes?) and leadership taking all kinds of credit when they hadn't even been informed -- are fascinating. Analogy to Katrina are provided as well. A mish-mash but interesting topic.