Middletown, America: One Town's Passage from Trauma to Hope

by Gail Sheehy

(11 Audio Cassettes) Many stories have been told about September 11, 2001, and individual tragedies related to that day. This book looks at stories of the tragedies and how they were dealt with by a group of individuals who share the address of Middletown, New Jersey, a town that lost 50 people to the terrorist attacks. Based on interviews with survivors, relatives, and friends of the victims, it profiles the people and, to some extent, the town and its struggle to cope. Sandra Burr's narration is subtle and well paced, allowing the emotion of the townspeople to come through without being maudlin or sensational. She smoothly handles the dialogue of interviews, setting it apart by changing tone and pace.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical

464 pages, Paperback

Published March 8, 2005

About the author

Gail Sheehy is an American writer and lecturer, most notable for her books on life and the life cycle. She is also a contributor to the magazine Vanity Fair.

Her fifth book, Passages, has been called "a road map of adult life". Several of her books continue the theme of passages through life's stages, including menopause and what she calls "Second Adulthood", including Pathfinders, Spirit of Survival, and Menopause: The Silent Passage. Her latest book, Sex and the Seasoned Woman, reveals a hidden cultural phenomenon: a surge of vitality in women's sex and love lives after age fifty. She has also authored a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton titled Hillary's Choice. Her novel Middletown, America is being adapted as a TV miniseries. (from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, powerful, powerful book. This book has stuck with me since I read it in 2003.

The story that has remained with me is the action the company Cantor Fitzgerald took after 9/11.

Every company and leader is continually faced with the challenge of, "Do we lead or do we follow?" This question rears its head quickly during times of crisis.

Cantor Fitzgerald determined that by the end of September 2001, pay and healthcare benefits would cease for all families who lost loved ones who had worked at Cantor Fitzgerald and lost their lives in the World Trade Center bombings on 9/11. So basically, pay and healthcare had continued for 20 days and then it was going to stop.

The community uproar was fast and furious and Cantor Fitzgerald changed their stance.

Sheehy's book covers families who lost their loved ones and the actions they took as a community after 9/11.

Strongly recommend!

[Graceann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gail Sheehy conducted 900 interviews in order to provide a snapshot of this community and its passage through the trauma of 9/11 and the days, weeks and months that followed. There is a bit of redundancy in the text, which reduces my rating from five stars to four, but the focus on how different families reacted to their losses and worked their way through the healing process.

I was astounded by the tireless efforts of the "four moms" who fought for fairness and full disclosure in the ridiculous number of mistakes that came together in the weeks before 9/11 and on the actual day. The obfuscation and prevarication among government officials was almost as infuriating to read about as it must have been to experience. While not at all surprising, it still angers. I also appreciated that when she refers to a 9/11 victim, she indicates that the person was "murdered," for that, in actuality, is what happened, though few wish to use the word. Three thousand people - travelers, brokers, secretaries, restaurant workers, first responders - were murdered, pure and simple.

I am glad that Ms. Sheehy was able to spend an extended period of time with these individuals in order to follow their progress, so that I could get some idea that they were actually healing (as much as anyone can) after this horrific event. This was a satisfying read, and I was grateful to get to know these people in some small way.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very informative and candid book, about the residents of Middletown, an affluent suburb in New Jersey that was impacted greatly by 9/11. OF the 3000 plus casualties of 9/11, 50 came from Middletown. The author follows the emergency workers, widows, sisters, brothers, parents, and partners of victims lost in 9/11 over 2 years. Through this journey, the reader gets a snapshot of the US immediately following the attacks, and also afterwards, after the media coverage moved on to other headlines. It is also gives a candid picture of the emergency responders' experience, some background information on all those lawsuits, the process of developing an investigative commission, and other issues I hadn't been aware of.
It took me a long time to read, as this is a subject that is somewhat difficult to read about. But overall it was quite interesting.

[Barb P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I thought it would be, decided not to finish it after about 60 pages.

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned about this book after recently reading Gail Sheehy (1936-2020)'s provocative memoir, Daring: My Passages. This is a very nice, multifaceted journalistic work, in which Sheehy followed interviewed hundreds of people impacted by the events of 9/11/01. The book focuses largely on individual families who had lost spouses, parents, and siblings in the bedroom community of Middletown, New Jersey (just a quick commute from downtown Manhattan), and extending in ripples through other residents of Middletown (school teachers, various Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith communities), various members of the NYPD, NYFD, and 9/11 rescue workers, and therapists and grief counselors who helped so many process their traumas. The book exemplifies Sheehy's new journalism style, as her depictions of her interview subjects are vivid and evocative of their characters and life experiences, rather than dry and factual. As the subtitle suggests, the main theme of the book is exploring how this diverse array of people coped with their trauma in the first year following 9/11: "Grief is like peeling onions. It comes off a little at a time, layer by layer. Nobody has an onion like anybody else’s onion. Your layers will come off at your own pace....in the last stage of peeling the onion, you turn a corner and decide to get well. The pain will still be there, but it will be a dull ache."

Further reading:
Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Mitchell Zuckoff (2019)
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kork, MD (2014)

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about many of the lives affected by September 11, 2001. The author does a wonderful job of intertwining the before, during, and after effects of that dreadful day. The book takes you through high-highs and low-lows of people who's lives were forever altered by the falling of the twin towers. We forget about the fatherless babies born just days after 9/11, or the mothers and fathers who lost grown firefighter sons. In this book, you'll hear about last phone calls to spouses and loved ones, just to say "I love you". And sadly, the stark contrast of that sweet sentiment to the Bush Administration's unwillingness to open an independent research study into the numerous failures of government agencies that led to the attacks. Not being from the East coast and not really knowing anyone personally who witnessed 9/11 attacks, this book brought all of it home for me in a very real way. I highly recommend this book.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally gave up on this one, not because it's grim, although it is (I read grim books now and then), but because it's tedious. Gail Sheehy certainly does her research, but does she have to put ALL of it into each book? (This is not the first Gail Sheehy book I've given up on partway through.) I couldn't keep the people straight (though the photos helped a bit) and the whole thing lacked resonance or "juice" for me.

I feel bad writing that, because for the people involved, it was the most resonant thing in their lives, and I still ache for the loss -- of life, of property, and mostly of innocence.

But there you go. For me, this book wasn't worth finishing.

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard book to read. Unlike a work of fiction, reading for entertainment, reading the details of the difficult road of recovery for everyone touched by 9/11 was sad and difficult to stick with it for prolonged periods of time. It had to be put aside on several occasions for a 'break'. Professionals have learned much about PTSD because of working with victims from the Oklahoma City bombing as well as those from the tower tragedy. Reading this work could help one understand and appreciate the difficulty emotional recovery is after any life disrupting trauma.

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written account of a handful of people directly affected by the 9-11 tragedy. Sheehy, by documenting the first 2-3 years of these widows and survivors of 9-11, explores post-traumatic stress and the grieving process caused by a traumatic event.I recently read that $7 Billion tax-payer dollars was paid out to the families of 9-11 victims. That figure is astonishing to me. It would have been interesting if Sheehy had explored the effects (both negative and positive) these payouts had on the families

[Lennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the places in America, Middletown, New Jersey lost the most residents on Sept.11th because many of them commuted to their work at the World Trade Center. The author interviews the families of the victims and they discuss how they are coping with their grief and trying to recover from the trauma. It's a truly touching story!

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a New Yorker, I am always interested in the stories of 9/11, as devestating as they may be. The author Gail Sheehy conducted 900 interviews in order to write this story about the community of Middletwon NJ. Although at times I felt like the stories were a little redundant, over all this is a very interesting book.

[Nancy Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book about one New Jersey town's reaction and recovery from the events of Sept 11, 2001. As a Jersey resident, it brings home our unique experience of that event. It also goes through the grief process and recovery in general and is a good read for all who struggle with loss.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always intrigued by Gail Sheehy's work, especially when she takes from her broader work of passeges in life and applies them to particular people or specific situations. Two tapes into this one, and it's good thus far.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While many examinations of the human stories of 9/11 try to share the saddest or most gruesome details, Sheehy uses her anthropological foundations to tell real and compelling stories of very human people. Fascinating read.

[Mark Dodson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed look at how 9-11 effected the Middletown NJ families, many of who lost loved ones who worked in the twin towers. Also covers the after effects on the survivors which were for many were quite severe, and how they dealt with it.

[Corinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an account of one town

[Bgkbarb Kochuba]

very moving story of 9/11

[Holle Forbes]

Excellent book. Informative.

[Lynn]

Middletown, NJ........9/11

[Maureen Forys · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a surreal reading experience. This is a detailed account of 9/11 through the widows, victims, and survivors from my hometown. Reading about my childhood priests, principals, and neighbors felt both strange and oddly thrilling. But overall, this book is overwhelmingly sad. With 9/11 now more than twenty years in the past, it's easy to forget how disorienting and shattering those days were, especially in Middletown and the rest of the NYC area. The grief wasn't theoretical or distant. Everyone knew someone who was lost or traumatized.

It also made me realize that my childhood was bookended by attacks on the World Trade Center. The 1993 bombing is my first "news" memory. I watched it unfold on the one TV channel still working because the blast knocked out the signal from the towers to our antenna. I remember seeing office workers walking out of the building with soot-covered faces, and my mom making frantic phone calls in the kitchen. Then, as an eighth grader, the much more fatal attack happened. I still have such sharp memories from the day: my stoic, authoritarian social studies teacher crying over her son who worked in the city, my unflappable combat-veteran dad looking genuinely horrified, standing at a neighborhood vigil listening to widows wail, the smoke and dust that covered everything in Middletown the next morning. And the most 2001 memory of all: going to bed that night, staring at the picture of the Twin Towers on my "Best of Friends" VHS box set, crying and unable to believe what had happened.

Now that my diary entry is over: I'm glad I read this. I can only imagine what the survivors and victims and their families went through, and while it's devastating, I'm grateful to have read their stories. Sheehy's connection between 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing is especially strong. Selfishly, I found the chapter on Middletown schools fascinating. I remembered a scathing review when it was first published, accusing her of disparaging our school and saying the girls were "injected" into their pants, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. My beloved elementary school principal, Dr. Martinez, is featured heavily, and I was awed by her strength. My high school principal also seemed to charm the author. I'm not sure the admiration was warranted, but good for him!

I landed on three stars because, while it was personally meaningful, I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it as much if I weren't a Middletown girl. The stories are powerful, but the book's organization feels uneven. Sheehy also clearly disliked Middletown (kinda same, Gail!), and her takeaways about the town don't entirely land. She addresses the resulting Islamophobia, but not in a particularly effective way. Because the book came out in 2003, it's missing the health crisis and loss of life that followed for so many people who worked at Ground Zero. Reading the sections on recovery made me anxious, knowing many of those already shattered officers would likely face shortened lives themselves.

Worth a read for Middletownies. Why roar when you can soar, etc etc etc.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Ms Sheehy's book and basically enjoyed her reporting. Of course, I don't live in Northern New Jersey and so I didn't know about incorrect names of places and people that a reviewer from Rumson pointed out in another review of the book in this section. But, like her, the moment I find inconsistancies of fact in a non-fiction work, I begin to wonder about other facts, too...

However, what I was left with after reading Ms Sheehy's book was the reminder of a rather tasteless joke by Joan Rivers about the men and women killed in the attacks of September 11th who were NOT mourned by their spouses as much as the those seemed to be in Ms Sheehy's reporting. Did Ms Sheehy not meet ANY one with a bad marriage who was secretly relieved when their spouse was killed? Did she meet them and not include any in her story?

I realize this is a niggling question, and probably in as bad taste as was Rivers' joke, but I'd like to have read about any ambivilance on the surviving spouses. Were ALL the marriages in this suburb as perfect as she portrays? Fifteen years after the event, I'd like to read an update to the families she writes about.

Just a small question. Other than that, the book was good reading.

[Sunny Etta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the time invested in following some of the families impacted by the September 11,2001 disaster and now have a deeper understanding of their losses. One big Takeaway for me, is the concept of no longer seeing grieving as a linear process. Rather, seeing grieving as circular; because one comes around to anniversary dates of various special events, meets people again that were associated with the person that’s passed on, hears songs or sees something that triggers memories and the living person once again senses the lost, must cope in some way, and go on with life. I like this concept of grieving bkz it’s real!
Additionally, I now have better realization of some of the differences between people having experienced a disaster loss versus a “normal” loss, if there is such.
And, I had to really respect the widows that did all of the investigation into what went wrong with warning systems. We are privileged to live in the United States of America.....faults and all. Might we each be humble enough to recognize our failings and have the courage to change those things that we can!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still remember exactly where I was and how I found out about 9/11. Shamefully, I was a new college freshman and I was more excited to have classes cancelled than horrified at what had happened. I was inspired to read this after reading a fiction book that revolved around teen characters growing up with murdered 9/11 parents and the author recommend this in her end note. I'm so glad I was led to this as there was so much I should have already known. There is still plenty I can't quite wrap my head around, but I'm better for having read it.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did the people of Middletown repair and rebuild itself emotionally after the horrors of 9/11? This community suffered an excruciating trauma. They lost so many community members on that day. But, the eventual coping skills of each and every individual affected enabled them to make gains towards living with what had happened. The event will never leave them--they had to learn how to keep remembering their loved ones, but move on.

[NancyL Luckey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The saddest thing about this book is that this tragedy should never have happened. The widows of 9/11 put together an amazing timeline of what happened when and it did not agree with the timeline created by the federal government.

No one in current politics wanted to jeopardize their election. And it happened again - in 2021 by our own politicians and homegrown terrorists.

[Charlotte Hammond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots to say on this one, I will likely be doing a full length review for my newsletter which you can opt into here https://gmail.us14.list-manage.com/su...

[Nancy Hester]

Loved the reference to Deuteronomy 28

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Middletown, NJ suffered more losses than any other community following the 9/11 disaster. Gail Sheehy follows the families through their passage through suffering and healing for years afterwards. In this highly detailed and emotional book, the author covers the aftermath of this pivotal event. For many of us, it faded from immediacy and was no longer in the daily news; however for many the trauma continued for years. Support groups, insurance settlements, congressional investigations, remarriages, rebuilding careers, selling homes, relocating, health problems, financial strain, and many other maladies plagued the survivors. Sheehy provides a deeply personal and rewarding look into the lives of some of those affected by the fall of the towers.