The 9/11 Commission Report

It has, improbably, been called "uncommonly lucid, even riveting" by The New York Times, and it was a finalist for the 2004 National Book Awards nonfiction honor. It is a literally chilling read, especially in its minute-by-minute description of the events of the morning of 9/11 inside the Twin Towers. It is The 9/11 Commission Report, which was, before its publication, perhaps one of the most anticipated government reports of all time, and has been since an unlikely bestseller. The official statement by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States-which was instituted in late 2002 and chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean-it details what went wrong on that day (such as intelligence failures), what went right (the heroic response of emergency services and self-organizing civilians), and how to avert similar future attacks. Highlighting evidence from the day, from airport surveillance footage of the terrorists to phone calls from the doomed flights, and offering details that have otherwise gone unheard, this is an astonishing firsthand document of contemporary history. While controversial in parts-it has been criticized for failing to include testimony from key individuals, and it completely omits any mention of the mysterious collapse of WTC 7-it is nevertheless an essential record of one of the most transformational events of modern times.