Ash and Honor by Jeffrey Robinson

ASH AND HONOR by Jeffrey Robinson details “The Untold 368 Minutes of 9/11.” Robinson, a prolific non-fiction writer, offers over sixty eyewitness accounts, all while describing the confusion and uncertainty of that eventful day. Because of all of the acronyms and bureaucracy involved this text is difficult to follow at times, but it is well-researched and brings up aspects of which few may be aware. The description of getting all of those planes out of the air and subsequently finding box cutters on some after they landed gave me goosebumps. Publishers Weekly calls ASH AND HONOR “a valuable record of bureaucracies and chains of command operating under extreme pressure” and that does seem to be Robinson’s main focus. Look also for other books related to 9/11 if your interests differ.

I am grateful that we collected so many contemporary works (such as Understanding September 11 by Mitch Frank and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies’ Collection of Front Pages) so that they could be available for future student research. We also have numerous works of young adult fiction related to 9/11. And the public library offers several relevant documentary videos through the Kanopy platform. Two items on my own to-be-read list are The Only Plane in the Sky by Graff and The Day the World Came to Town by Defede (also commemorated in the musical Come From Away currently playing in Austin). Despite the sad subject, the passing of twenty-five years deserves a respectful remembrance.

Earth Day: Flying Green and Columbia Global Reports

FLYING GREEN by Christopher de Bellaigue, an award-winning author, historian, and journalist, provides important background and devotes a chapter each to aviation fuel, the promise of hydrogen, and flying electric. Presenting a variety of scenarios and possible solutions, de Bellaigue writes in a very accessible manner. His comments about “flight shame” and KLM’s campaign asking people to “fly responsibly” prompted me to reflect on how emissions data are now often shown when choosing between specific flights. The numerous statistics de Bellaigue cites are amazing; here are a just a few examples:
 -  “Researchers have estimated that the 823 million international flights recorded in 2018 were taken by a mere 155 million people – just 2 percent of the world’s population.”
 -  The global aviation sector’s “total contribution of $2.7 trillion to the gross domestic product, and the 65.5 million jobs it supports, would be comparable to the United Kingdom’s economic size and population.”
 -  And, “a recent study … identified giving up one transatlantic flight per year as one of four actions [one less child; plant-based diet; no car travel] we could take that would have the greatest impact on the environment.” 

FLYING GREEN is listed as one of the Financial Times’ books to read in 2023. In addition to notes, there is a reference to other books published by Columbia Global Reports; like this one (111 pages), the publisher says they are “… short, but ambitious … works of original thinking and on-site reporting from all over the world, on a wide range of topics. They offer new ways of looking at and understanding the major issues of our time.” We have commented on some, including High Speed Empire and The Nationalist Revival. And on this Earth Day, I intend to revisit Miseducation (“How Climate Change Is Taught in America”) by Katie Worth.