Read ‘The Falling Man’: 9/11's Most Unforgettable Story

The story behind this photograph is our most intimate connection to the horror of that day. If you have trouble reading this message, view it in a browser.       Read 'The Falling Man': 9/11's Most Unforgettable Story   In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow. Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in his last instants of life, embraced it. If he were not falling, he might very well be flying. He appears relaxed, hurtling through the air. He appears comfortable in the grip of unimaginable motion. He does not appear intimidated by gravity's divine suction or by what awaits him. His arms are by his side, only slightly outriggered. His left leg is bent at the knee, almost casually. His white shirt, or jacket, or frock, is billowing free of his black pants. His black high-tops are still on his feet. In all the other pictures, the people who did what he did—who jumped—appear to be struggling against horrific discrepancies of scale. They are made puny by the backdrop of the towers, which loom like colossi, and then by the event itself. Read More           My Escape From the 81st Floor of the World Trade Center   Up to that day, I'd had a Brady Bunch, cookie-cutter, beautiful life. I now know what it's like to have a 110-story building that's been hit by a 767 come down on my head. For better or for worse, it's part of my life. There are things I never thought I'd know that I now know. Read More           Disproving 9 of the Biggest 9/11 Conspiracy Theories   An extraordinary event requires an extraordinary explanation. But for some, the idea that 19 men could commandeer four commercial airliners in a coordinated attack and use them as 400-ton missiles to destroy such massive buildings still doesn't make sense. Even 15 years after the fact, there are still plenty who cannot believe that these symbols of American power—military, economic, and, had they not been stopped, political—were so fundamentally vulnerable to destruction. People want more, and when the official accounts aren't satisfying, they begin to look elsewhere. Read More           These Handwritten Notes from Air Force One on 9/11 Are Surreal   In all likelihood, the first thing that comes to mind when you think of George W. Bush on 9/11 is The Pet Goat. That morning, the President was down at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Florida, seated with one leg crossed inside a first grade classroom. His thumb pinched the interior spine of the children's book even as an aide entered the room at 9:06 a.m. and whispered into his ear that the United States was under attack. Read More           The Next Generation of Soldiers: Inside One Recruit's Pursuit of the Forever War   The recruit wakes in the dark of morning. Other than the sweet call of coquis spilling down from the green hills and the psychotic rooster one block over, he hears only the thrum of easy quiet. He's tired, having stayed up late playing video games. No one will reprimand him if he shuts his eyes and drifts back to sleep. He exists in a state of transience, after all—half here, half there, half waiting, half going. And the enduring benefit of transience is its lack of consequence. Read More           Never Forget What Happened After, Either   Don't you wonder if they ever pause on September 11 every year and ponder how they all used the dead of that awful day for their own purposes, to fulfill their long-held desires for empire-building in the countries of oil, to use other people's children in service of their profane desires? Don't you wonder if they ever pause on September 11 and ponder how they'd all screwed up so badly throughout the summer of 2001 when, as Richard Clarke recalled, "all the lights were blinking red"? Do you wonder if they make the connection, in the softening dark of the early morning, between their own incompetence and the use they ultimately made of it? Read More         Read More on Esquire.com       Follow Us     Unsubscribe  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2019 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019