Michael: Most people think the story of 9/11 is about the day the world changed. But what if the more terrifying story is about the day before? The quiet, normal, completely ordinary day when all the systems designed to protect us were sound asleep. Kevin: That's a chilling thought. We focus on the explosion, but you're saying the real story is in the silence leading up to it? The vulnerability we didn't even know we had. Michael: That's the chilling core of Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Mitchell Zuckoff. Kevin: And Zuckoff is the perfect person to tell this story. He wasn't just a historian looking back; he was a reporter for the Boston Globe who wrote the lead news story the day after the attacks. He was in the thick of it from the beginning. Michael: Exactly. And that journalistic, on-the-ground perspective is what makes this book so powerful. It's less about the geopolitical 'why' and more about the human 'what happened.' It's widely acclaimed for being one of the most comprehensive oral histories of the day. And Zuckoff starts by painting this incredible, almost painfully normal picture of September 10th, 2001.

Michael: He introduces us to John Ogonowski, the captain of American Airlines Flight 11. But on September 10th, he's not a historical figure. He's a farmer in Dracut, Massachusetts, who loves his 130-acre farm more than just about anything. He's just returned from a flight and all he wants to do is stay home the next day for a farm-related event. He tries to get out of his scheduled flight, but he can't. Kevin: It's that dramatic irony. We know what's coming, but he's just a guy worried about his crops and wanting to spend another day at home. It makes the whole thing so much more real, so much more heartbreaking. But what about the systems? Where were the people whose job it was to not be unaware? Michael: That's the other side of the coin Zuckoff shows us. He takes us inside the Northeast Air Defense Sector, or NEADS, in Rome, New York. On September 10th, Major Kevin Nasypany is giving his sister-in-law a tour of the facility. After seeing the giant screens and the quiet operators, she says, "It looks like you guys don’t do much. It’s really quiet in here." Kevin: Wow. And Nasypany's response is the key, right? He says, "Quiet’s a good thing around here. When it starts getting loud... that’s a bad thing." That's the entire mindset. They were prepared for a Cold War-style attack from Russian bombers, not for a threat coming from within. Michael: Precisely. The entire security apparatus was looking the wrong way. The FAA's primary concern wasn't hijacking; it was bombs in checked luggage, a hangover from the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie. So their screening system, CAPPS, was designed to flag people who checked bags. The 9/11 hijackers barely checked any. Kevin: Wait, so you're telling me they could just walk on with box cutters and knives? How was that even possible? Michael: Because at the time, knives with blades shorter than four inches were permitted on planes. The hijackers knew the rules and exploited them perfectly. Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker, actually set off the metal detector in Portland, Maine. But the screener just did a quick wand check and let him through. They were looking for guns and bombs, not the small blades they were carrying. Kevin: That is just staggering. The holes in the system were enormous. And it gets worse, doesn't it? Michael: It does. Zuckoff points out this unbelievable fact: the FAA's own 'no-fly list' at the time contained only 12 names. Twelve. Meanwhile, the State Department had a terrorist watchlist called TIPOFF with over 60,000 names. Kevin: Let me guess. The two agencies didn't share their lists? Michael: They didn't. The head of FAA security didn't even know the State Department's list existed. So, two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, were known to the CIA as al-Qaeda operatives and were on the TIPOFF list. But they were able to get visas, enter the U.S., and board Flight 77 without a single red flag. The system wasn't just asleep; it was fragmented and blind.

Michael: So you have these systems that are completely unprepared. The moment the plan is initiated on the morning of September 11th, the system breaks. And when the system breaks, the book shows us that everything falls to individual human beings. Kevin: And the first people to realize something is profoundly wrong aren't in a command center in Washington. They're at 30,000 feet, on the plane itself. Michael: Exactly. Zuckoff tells the incredible story of Betty Ong, a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11. As soon as the hijacking begins—the stabbings, the mace—she gets on an Airfone in the back of the plane and calls the American Airlines reservations center. And she is unbelievably calm. Kevin: She's not screaming for help, she's reporting. Michael: She is reporting. She gives them the seat numbers of the hijackers, she confirms they can't get into the cockpit, she describes the injuries. She says, "The cockpit's not answering. Somebody's stabbed in business class... I think we're being hijacked." In that moment, Betty Ong, a flight attendant, becomes the first intelligence agent of this new war. Kevin: That's incredible courage. But her call also highlights another failure, doesn't it? The information isn't getting to the right people fast enough. It's stuck in corporate channels. Michael: A complete communication breakdown. The airline is talking to itself, the FAA is trying to figure out what's happening, and NEADS is still wondering if it's a real-world event or an exercise. It's chaos. And this is where the story of Flight 93 becomes so pivotal. Kevin: The one that was delayed on the tarmac in Newark. Michael: Yes. That 42-minute delay was the crucial variable. Because of that delay, by the time the hijackers on Flight 93 made their move, the passengers and crew had a weapon the people on the other flights didn't: information. Kevin: They were able to make phone calls. Michael: They were. And they learned what was happening. Tom Burnett calls his wife, Deena, who tells him about the towers. He says, "Okay. They're talking about crashing this plane... It's a suicide mission." Jeremy Glick calls his wife, Lyz. Todd Beamer gets through to an Airfone operator, Lisa Jefferson. They're not just saying goodbye; they're gathering intelligence. Kevin: So they knew. They knew this wasn't a normal hijacking. They weren't going to Cuba. They were a missile. And they had a choice to make. Michael: A choice no one should ever have to make. Jeremy Glick tells his wife, "We're going to vote." And they do. They decide to fight back. Todd Beamer, after reciting the Lord's Prayer with the operator, puts the phone down and is heard saying to the others, "Are you guys ready? Okay. Let's roll." Kevin: Chills. Every time I hear that. It's the ultimate act of defiance. Michael: It is. And Zuckoff contrasts this incredible human resolve with the cold, chilling instructions found in the hijackers' luggage. One of their manuals read, "Strike all mortals. Strike above the necks." It's this stark contrast between calculated, nihilistic violence and spontaneous, life-affirming courage.

Michael: When you step back, what Zuckoff has done with Fall and Rise is monumental. He shows that the grand, abstract event we call '9/11' was really the sum of thousands of tiny, intensely personal moments. A pilot wanting to be home, a flight attendant's calm voice, a husband telling his wife he loves her. Kevin: And it reveals a fundamental truth. When our complex systems fail, and they inevitably will, all we have left is human connection and courage. The passengers of Flight 93 couldn't rely on the FAA or the military. They relied on each other and the information they got from their families on the ground. Michael: Exactly. The book's title, Fall and Rise, isn't just about the towers. It's about the fall of our sense of security and the rise of this incredible, spontaneous heroism from ordinary people. The epigraph Zuckoff chose for the book is from a forest pathologist in 1921. It says, "The ravages of many a forest fire of a bygone age may be read today in the scars left in the tree itself." Kevin: Wow. The damage is there, but it tells a story. It's a part of the history that can't be erased. Michael: And it's a story of resilience. The book ends not just with the fall, but with the rise. The rescue efforts, the stories of survival, the way people came together. It's a difficult read, but it's an essential one because it reminds us of the worst and the best of humanity, often in the very same moment. Kevin: It's a story we absolutely need to keep telling. We'd love to hear from our listeners—what's the one story from that day that has always stuck with you? Find us on our socials and share it. It’s important to remember these individual stories, to keep them alive. Michael: This is Aibrary, signing off.