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Braving the Waves: Rockaway Rises-- And Rises Again
The true story of those from Rockaway, New York who ran to help on September 11, and then faced another unprecedented tragedy when American Airlines Flight 587 nose-dived into their small community. Few places--other than Ground Zero itself--can more acutely mark before and after September 11 and November 12, 2001 than the Harbor Light, a neighborhood pub in Rockaway, located in the shadows of Manhattan’s skyscrapers. -Before, you might meet regular customer, George Johnson, there. After, he’s one of the flag-raising firefighters in the now-famous photo reminiscent of the marines at Iwo Jima. -Before, you might bump into Mike Moran. After, he’s the firefighter immortalized on a best-selling CD, who told a packed Madison Square Garden that Osama Bin Laden could "kiss his royal Irish ass." -Before, young stockbrokers would get a good-natured ribbing from their firefighting buddies for choosing the "safe" career path. After, you’d find they weren’t so safe after all. -Before—in fact, just the night before—you might have seen Tommy Carroll and Danny Suhr yelling at the Giants as they were losing the season opener to the Denver Broncos. After, Tommy is the guy who got lucky. A fire company was short a man so he filled in. Had he stayed with his regular crew, he’d be dead—just like the rest of them. Truth is, he’s not so lucky. He can still hear the sound of humans hitting the ground from 100 stories above him. And Danny? He’s dead … killed by one of the jumpers. -Before, you’d meet Pete Hayden, Deputy Chief FDNY, having a beer with his brother Jack, who moonlights behind the bar when he’s not fighting fires himself. After, you wouldn’t see Pete much. He stayed at Ground Zero, working every day for two months straight. When he finally decided to give himself a day off, he picked November 12—the day American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into his Rockaway neighborhood … right next to the Harbor Light.
- GenresNonfiction
188 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 9, 2013
Fabulous book! glad I read this before 10th anniversary to refresh my memory. Interesting to learn about the "real" people that were affected, where they were at the time, before, during and after and how they coped. True account.
June 10, 2018
This book randomly crossed my radar last week as I was reading about the Rockaways and intrigued by the reviews, I bought it. WOW. What an amazing read. I started this yesterday on the train home from Coney and would have finished it in one sitting if I'd had time.
You don't think of a seaside community as a phoenix repeatedly rising from the ashes, but that's what Rockaway is. Boyle did a masterful job of weaving the history of peninsula's destructive fires into the story of how 2001-2002 changed the landscape of the peninsula's families. I felt for these people who I never knew, and mostly never heard of prior to this book. Their stories and back stories made this read like a novel and really brought the dual tragedies of September 11 and American Airlines Flight 587 to life. I never visited Rockaway prior to Sandy and in May 2013 made a trip out there to see how it recovered-it hadn't-and Flight 587 Memorial was one of my primary stops as I remember that vividly. When I subsequently returned last summer, I went back. It's like a pilgrimage, yet I can't imagine it being part of m y life. In some ways, Rockaway feels miles away from urban NYC, perhaps that's what leads to the smalltown-esque, brother helping brother in the community. I loved the discussion on whether the surviving firefighters were heroes. Great food for thought.
In some ways, despite its decline of the last two generations, Rockaway will thrive due to the NYPD/FDNY/Sanitation families who make it their home. It may never return to the halcyon resort days, but those jobs comes with good salaries and pensions, keeping the community from falling into complete desolation. That said, there's the question of just how much more the community can take. I was saddened to hear Harbor Light was a Sandy casualty, and would love to read more from this author on the intervening years since November 2001.
You don't think of a seaside community as a phoenix repeatedly rising from the ashes, but that's what Rockaway is. Boyle did a masterful job of weaving the history of peninsula's destructive fires into the story of how 2001-2002 changed the landscape of the peninsula's families. I felt for these people who I never knew, and mostly never heard of prior to this book. Their stories and back stories made this read like a novel and really brought the dual tragedies of September 11 and American Airlines Flight 587 to life. I never visited Rockaway prior to Sandy and in May 2013 made a trip out there to see how it recovered-it hadn't-and Flight 587 Memorial was one of my primary stops as I remember that vividly. When I subsequently returned last summer, I went back. It's like a pilgrimage, yet I can't imagine it being part of m y life. In some ways, Rockaway feels miles away from urban NYC, perhaps that's what leads to the smalltown-esque, brother helping brother in the community. I loved the discussion on whether the surviving firefighters were heroes. Great food for thought.
In some ways, despite its decline of the last two generations, Rockaway will thrive due to the NYPD/FDNY/Sanitation families who make it their home. It may never return to the halcyon resort days, but those jobs comes with good salaries and pensions, keeping the community from falling into complete desolation. That said, there's the question of just how much more the community can take. I was saddened to hear Harbor Light was a Sandy casualty, and would love to read more from this author on the intervening years since November 2001.
November 18, 2008
Great.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews