9/11: Essays

In the wake of 9/11, Americans have grappled with the profound political, social, and psychological repercussions of the attacks. These essays, written over the past decade, work to make meaning from the tragedy.

David Remnick muses on the decade since the towers fell. “When the Towers Fell,” The New Yorker.

The late David Foster Wallace notes the preponderance of American flags in his small Illinois town. “The View from the Midwest,” Rolling Stone.

Life Magazine compiles its galleries of 9/11 photographs.

Slate editor David Plotz wonders why he doesn’t know anybody who died in the attacks. He does the math, and concludes “we are all mourners at the second degree.”  “Life’s Odds and September 11th,” Slate.

David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars, considers God and country on the road in the weeks following the attacks. “Unplanned Road Trip,” Granta.

Now-retired columnist Jimmy Breslin was on Liberty Street when the first tower collapsed. “The Word on the Street is Run,” Rolling Stone.