Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of September 11

The media juggernaut that brought us O. J. and Chandra-gate rose to the occasion in a ""heroic fashion"" on September 11, writes Brokaw in his apt foreword to this collection of oral histories by journalists who covered the terrorist attacks. In these short and piercing reminiscences, reporters, photographers, editors and producers race to Ground Zero, penetrate police cordons, dodge falling skyscrapers, patch together cell-phone links and search out all-night film-processing stores to bring us the story of the millennium. The book is not without self-congratulation (""journalists...calm and inform a terrified nation""), defensiveness (especially over the horrific ""jumper"" photos of office workers plummeting to their deaths), or Dan Rather's oddness (""I drank...some kind of a protein drink. I don't want to be chewing on the air""). But it vividly conveys the stop-the-presses freneticism-and real achievement-of news organizations in quickly extracting hard information and a coherent story from the chaos. The many close-up photos of explosions and carnage-still with the power to shock and awe-remind us of the nerve of those who crept close enough to snap them. Many pictures by freelance photographer William Biggart, the only journalist killed while reporting the story, appear within.