Reading 9/11, from A to Z

Compared to other media, the book publishing industry has been slow to offer something of value to the national debate over 9/11 and the wars (both figurative and literal) it has spawned. But that doesn't mean the industry hasn't been busy. In fact, well over 300 books were issued in the year following the attacks. And although we're more fixated on Iraq and North Korea than on Al Qaeda these days (anyone remember them?) there's no end to the publishing push in sight.

A good chunk of the growing 9/11 genre -- yes, looking back over the past 18 months, we seem to have spawned a new literary category -- features trite and predictable titles in which heroes implore you to "remember the sacrifice," while insiders at the Bush White House remind you that "terror will not win." Readers have had to sort through a flood of titles dealing with some element of the attacks, though most, unfortunately, look to have been quick cut-and-paste jobs. Given the windfall, how is one expected to separate the wheat from the chaff?

Well, that depends on your politics and your stomach for some serious down-home Americana. Everything from Bill Gertz's anti-Clinton screed, "Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11," to AOL's collection of Internet messages, "Because We Are Americans: What We Discovered on September 11, 2001," to the anti-USA Patriot Act essay collection, "It's a Free Country: Personal Freedom in America After September 11," to books featuring quilts inspired by the carnage at Ground Zero, have lined bookstore shelves. Whatever your taste, there's likely a book out there for you.

Some books, like Bob Woodward's 800-lb gorilla "Bush at War" and William Langewiesche's rapid-fire "American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center," are largely non-partisan, serious literary attempts at understanding the issues at hand, while others, like "Faces of Hope," a photo collection of babies born Sept. 11, 2001, are just plain embarrassing.

Immediately following the attacks, the publishing industry kicked into high gear, pumping out a succession of thin titles such as the unwieldy and sensationalistic-sounding "09/11 8:48 am: Documenting America's Greatest Tragedy, September, 2001," which was available in electronic form online and also made the local Barnes & Noble in New York before September was out. Not surprisingly, plenty of these early books were of the interchangeable "hero" ilk, like "September 11, 2001: A Time for Heroes and In the Line of Duty: A Tribute to New York's Finest and Bravest."

Scrolling through online booksellers and publishers Web sites, it's alarming and perhaps revealing how many 9/11 books were published in the first two months after the attacks. A handful were published in September, while October seems to have been a quiet month where publishers presumably took stock of what they had and rushed photo books and eyewitness accounts to print -- all of which seem to have hit during the first week of November. Publishing is a business just like any other, so it's not surprising the industry jumped at the chance to increase profits and gain notoriety for its book lists. Still, even a cynic might be surprised at how quickly the machinery of capitalism moved in to wash away the grief.

It was also somewhat of a gamble, as no one knew how the public would react to such a quick turn-around of an event that seemed too fresh to be captured on paper. But books dealing with the attacks translated into big business in 2002 -- at least initially. By year's end, Publishers Weekly reported that 16 titles relating to 9/11 appeared on weekly best seller charts over the course of the year, although 11 of them only managed to stick around for four weeks or less, which doesn't say much for their staying power. Conversely, two books released in 2002, Langewiesche's "American Ground" and "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" by Chris Hedges, are both nominated in the general non-fiction category for the National Book Critics Circle Award, showing the great disparity in the quality of books released.