9/11 titles

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, September 2021; written by Michelle Lampton.

It’s been twenty years since 9/11. For many of us, it will remain vivid in our minds for the rest of our lives. You can check out any of these relevant titles from the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library:

“110 Stories: New York Writes After September 11,” edited by Ulrich Baer, is an anthology of short essays, stories, and poetry written by New York writers as they started to process the events of 9/11. If you want easy-to-digest stories that hit deep and add texture to what it was like for the people most directly affected, this title is for you.

“Fantasy Film Post 9/11,” by Frances Pheasant-Kelly examines how fantasy movies became imbued with imagery and themes reflecting 9/11 and newer anxieties, such as the resulting War on Terror. From “Lord of the Rings” and “Iron Man,” the author makes the case that this transference was a way American society worked through the traumatic after-effects of 9/11 without continually exposing ourselves to the direct memories, images, or recordings of what happened or the rapid changes that followed.

“Why They Don’t Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil,” by Mark LeVine questions whether there was actually a “them” in the Arab world to consider the West’s enemy following 9/11. He posits that like any cross-section of humanity, Arab views and beliefs contained as many differences as there were people. He argues there wasn’t an “Axis of Evil,” problem, post-9/11, but an “Axis of Arrogance and Ignorance that [infecting] commentators and policy makers across the political spectrum,” and that to be reconciled, people must move past simple reductions.

“Middleton, America: One Town’s Passage from Trauma to Hope,” by Gail Sheehy transports readers into the life of the New Jersey town who lost more people in the 9/11 attack than any other location in the country outside of New York. Sheehy documents the touching struggles towards recovery of the family and friends of those Middleton lost.

The campus library also has multiple ways for you to read The 9/11 Commission Report, from the Executive Summary pamphlet, to a short reader with related documents, to the unabridged version with attached notes as issued in its entirety by the Federal Government. And of course, the Public Library has many 9/11 titles as well!

Finally, an important note of business for the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library; We are leaving the First City Libraries Consortium on October 16. But, you can continue using the Campus Library indefinitely! Simply stop by and register for your free public patron card at any time. We’re open Monday-Friday, 9am to 5pm; so browse our book shelves, read one of our magazines while sitting on the sofas, or even use the internet. Or, over the next several weeks as we work through the transition, if you can’t come up to see us here on the hill just yet, the Public Library can issue you a UAS Ketchikan Campus Library card when you check out there. Campus Library: 228-4567