Firehouse (ePub)

"If you have tears, prepare to shed them."—Frank McCourt"In the firehouse, the men not only live and eat with each other,they play sports together, go off to drink together, help repair oneanother's houses, and, most important, share terrifying risks; theirloyalties to each other must, by the demands of the dangers they face,be instinctive and absolute."So writes David Halberstam, one of America's most distinguished reporters and historians, in this stunning New York Timesbestselling book about Engine 40, Ladder 35, located on the West Sideof Manhattan near Lincoln Center. On the morning of September 11, 2001,two rigs carrying thirteen men set out from this firehouse: twelve ofthem would never return.Firehouse takes us to the epicenter of the tragedy. Throughthe kind of intimate portraits that are Halberstam's trademark, we watchthe day unfold—the men called to duty while their families waitanxiously for news of them. In addition, we come to understand theculture of the firehouse itself: why gifted men do this; why, in so manyinstances, they are eager to follow in their fathers' footsteps andserve in so dangerous a profession; and why, more than anything else, itis not just a job, but a calling.This is journalism-as-history at its best, the story of what happenswhen one small institution gets caught in an apocalyptic day. Firehouse is a book that will move readers as few others have in our time.