The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

Garrett M. Graff’s work of nonfiction takes the form of an oral history. Aside from contextualizing statements, which establish concrete details such as locations and times (italicized to distinguish them from the oral anecdotes), the text is entirely composed of transcribed comments from those who witnessed or were involved in the events of 9/11. This method of historical record is especially valuable in documenting the lived experiences of an event, producing a well-rounded understanding of what an event looked, sounded, and felt like from numerous points of view. Traditional historical records, which focus on the facts of what occurred and who was involved, might fail to capture the sensory and emotional experience of an event. Conversely, Graff’s far-reaching account immerses readers in the events through raw, tragic, and sometimes graphic descriptions. For example, rather than simply stating that Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the WTC at 8:46 am, the text conveys people’s experiences of it, describing how the plane sounded as it flew over Manhattan, how various business workers within the tower felt as they saw and heard the plane approaching, and what the initial impact felt like on various floors and to individuals who were in elevators at the time of impact. The text even shares the experience of those who were burned by fireballs bursting from elevator shafts into the lobby and those who witnessed others being incinerated. Thus, the book unpacks and explores the lived impressions of the day’s events in a way that a traditional historical text could not capture.

The roughly chronological arrangement of Graff’s oral history reflects the nation’s shifting mood throughout the day. For example, many initially assumed that Flight 11’s crash into the WTC’s North Tower was a tragic accident. However, when Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, the understanding and mood shifted; people realized that a systematic attack was occurring. Minutes after first responders in New York radioed, panicked, that the city was under attack, elementary school children in Florida saw the face of their visitor, President George W. Bush, become shocked and serious as his chief of staff whispered a message to him. The reader vicariously experiences citizens’ changing emotions and thoughts as the horror unfolded.

Furthermore, unlike many other 9/11 histories, which focus on a particular event, such as Flight 93’s hijacking and crash in Pennsylvania or the crash of Flight 77 into the Pentagon, Graff’s oral history encompasses all four hijacked planes, the events that unfolded at the scenes where they crashed, and the reactions of US citizens, including bystanders, survivors, leaders, and policymakers, as well as the movements of President Bush throughout the day. Although the experiences of individuals in the WTC towers or in the Pentagon radically differ from the experiences of individuals in the four hijacked planes, for example, Graff’s history emphasizes the unifying threads of human experience present throughout the day: terror, disbelief, immense courage, love, resilience, and self-sacrifice. This conveys an understanding of the events through the lens of humanity and fosters empathy, grief, and immense respect for those involved in 9/11.