Statement
by the editors of The Atlantic Monthly
William Langewiesche's book American Ground is intended an inspiring
work, one that captures a uniquely American way of tackling even the
gravest challenges and memorializes the extraordinary achievement of
three-dimensional human beings who labored at the World Trade Center
site. By its very nature the story ventures into highly motional territory;
it is to be expected that emotions would be stirred by any piece of
work that described the site with depth and complexity. William Langewiesche is experienced and level-headed reporter, Without
the slightest muckraking impulse, and American Ground is neither
moralistic nor reproving in character. No individuals were described
in negative terms, and even the actions of anonymous members of groups
which on the 'outside' and in 'normal life' might be construed as negative,
are presented in American Ground with empathy and understanding
in the context of an unusual and tragic environment that was closer
in character to a battlefield than to an American city. This has been
very clear to most readers and critics, who have given American Ground
an overwhelmingly positive response. The World Trade Center site, as Langewiesche describes it, was a complex
place where many things happened, people had widely varying experiences,
and many interpretations were possible. The specifics and details contained
in American Ground were vigorously fact-checked, as all material
contained within The Atlantic Monthly is. The fact checking took five
months of full-time work, by a experienced team of two, who sought to
trace every detail to its source. They spoke to eyewitnesses, to people
being quoted, to city officials; they tracked down every detail through
independent channels, and in the most sensitive cases through more than
one. While there is speculation contained within American Ground,
it is open speculation, and in most case it was included because it
was the speculation that was active at the site and therefore was part
of the emerging culture that is the subject of American Ground.
It would be a complete misreading of American Ground to believe
that it denigrates the New York Fire Department, or anyone else who
was an active participant in the response and recovery process that
William Langewiesche celebrates. It was a process that Langewiesche
explored with extraordinary care and thoroughness, in daily reporting
that stretched over many months. Everything described at the site is
based either on Langeweische's own observations, as a reporter accorded
full and continual access, or on interviews with multiple eyewitnesses. American Ground is a clear-eyed view of a time of great sadness
and stress, and a piece of reporting remarkable for its depth and its
integrity. ____________
Toby Lester |