"And from the ruins,that yellow cloud,made of pain and death and

religious zealotry,created by twisted minds and hardened hearts,kept

rising over the city.The stentch of it poisoned the air.Sirens wailed

their terrible song. But that sinister cloud would not prevail. The

world's God-sick party of death would not win. There on the ground,on

the day after our worst calamity,were the toughest people anywhere on

Earth. They would remove that smoke from our sky. And when it was

gone,they would work,as they always do,for life itself. They would

drink. They would sing. They would dance."



There have been many books published on the Terrorist attack on America on 9/11;and I have several. However; if one wants to have one book that covers it as well as any,I strongly recommend this book and the excellent DVD that is included with it.The DVD is a full-length account lasting approximately 90 minutes.It is one thing to read the personal accounts of those who took part in the firefighting,policing,search and rescue, volunteering and particularly those who lost friends and loved ones;but,is the only way to hear it asnd in their own words . It is the only way to appreciate the love,heartbreak,and determination to continue with their lives.

Everyone should own a copy of this package;re-read and re-listen to it often.This declaration of war by Terrorists ,and the people who sympathize

with them, is only the early stage of a long time onslaught on Democracy,Freedom and Liberty that will continue for years. As long and terrible that this will be,the one thing that is for sure is; Good will win out over Evil-- it will not be easy,but nothing worthwhile ever is.

The people you hear from in this book and DVD took the first big hit in this war and are all heros.Here we see Americans at their very best.

As I wrire this review,I am reminded that today is the 65th anniversity

of of that infamous day on December 7,1941 ; when another evil empire attacked Pearl Harbor. Good won over Evil and will do so again.

"And from the ruins,that yellow cloud,made of pain and death and
religious zealotry,created by twisted minds and hardened hearts,kept
rising over the city.The stentch of it poisoned the air.Sirens wailed
their terrible song. But that sinister cloud would not prevail. The
world's God-sick party of death would not win. There on the ground,on
the day after our worst calamity,were the toughest people anywhere on
Earth. They would remove that smoke from our sky. And when it was
gone,they would work,as they always do,for life itself. They would
drink. They would sing. They would dance."

There have been many books published on the Terrorist attack on America on 9/11;and I have several. However; if one wants to have one book that covers it as well as any,I strongly recommend this book and the excellent DVD that is included with it.The DVD is a full-length account lasting approximately 90 minutes.It is one thing to read the personal accounts of those who took part in the firefighting,policing,search and rescue, volunteering and particularly those who lost friends and loved ones;but,is the only way to hear it asnd in their own words . It is the only way to appreciate the love,heartbreak,and determination to continue with their lives.
Everyone should own a copy of this package;re-read and re-listen to it often.This declaration of war by Terrorists ,and the people who sympathize
with them, is only the early stage of a long time onslaught on Democracy,Freedom and Liberty that will continue for years. As long and terrible that this will be,the one thing that is for sure is; Good will win out over Evil-- it will not be easy,but nothing worthwhile ever is.
The people you hear from in this book and DVD took the first big hit in this war and are all heros.Here we see Americans at their very best.
As I wrire this review,I am reminded that today is the 65th anniversity
of of that infamous day on December 7,1941 ; when another evil empire attacked Pearl Harbor. Good won over Evil and will do so again.

The text in the book is not that great, the pictures on the other hand make up for everything the text lacks. If pictures are worth 1000 words then these are the Proverbial "Encyclopedia Britanica" of Sept. 11, 2001. They find and illuminate the wide range of feelings and reactions that were brought out in the aftermath from horror to pain to fear to pride in out emergency service workers and even those who were not emergency service workers but showed up to volunteer. The DVD in my opinion is the real gem here, I have the DVDs 9/11 intended to be a documentary about a rookie fire fighter that caught the only existing footage of the first plane hitting the trade center, CNN Tribute - America Remembers - The Events of September 11th (Commemorative Edition)which is a collection of video from cnn coverage of the attacks and interviews done afterwards, and then there is the What We Saw DVD, this one is similar to the CNN DVD but does something different, it brings the loved and lost into our hearts and reminds us of the heavy price that we paid that day. Like both of the before mentioned DVDs this one brought me to tears, but there is something different about this one. It is painful to watch but its our duty to see it, because we need to be reminded so we don't let it happen again.

while i admit the dvd included here isn't as good as the cnn one,it's still good but the book is the thing here.
the book is wonderful and when my boys ask about this i'll use this book and the other dvd's to help them understand just how big and sad that day was. everyone should have this in their collection.

In the months following this horrific events, Americans have proved that they can be easily controlled by fear and more than eager to give up freedoms to be free. Americans need to take a hard look of how they have allowed america to desintigrate by the hands of an illegitimate president, because Bush has garanteed america many more 9/11s by his illegal war in Iraq

wake up America before you find yourself in a dictatorship

i bought this book and dvd and i am so glad i did. this was one of the worst days in american history and this print and video record is very much needed. it catches all the angles of this horriable day. a must for every american.

I purchased this book/DVD after seeing a very moving display of actual World Trade Center rubble. I was greatly impressed with the book. It goes into great detail of the timeline and events that occured that day. However the DVD really only had a few moments of live coverage then turns to clips of past 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. In the hour and a half that it takes to watch this DVD, there are barely 10 minutes devoted to the flight that crashed in PA. The book is something that I would reccommend be in every home, but if the DVD was scratched beyond repair it wouldn't be so bad.

This book, with its accompanying DVD, is a must for every public & personal library. It chronicles the events that occurred during and after the events, both on a personal level for the families & survivors as well as for the companies affected. What is revealed in this book is the response of American & United Airlines while their planes were missing--something that not many have written about. The composure & professionalism maintained by Bryant Gumbel is a perfect example of journalism at its best. A note about the DVD, it is not the complete coverage of the event as events unfolded but rather snippets. Some of the footage & descriptions within the book are a little hard to take, even after two years, so I recommend reviewing the DVD before allowing children to see it. Other than that, it brings back the memories we've had of that day. This book will surely make it into the "Works Cited" pages of research papers on the topic for years to come.

I will never forget that day. I was just getting up and flipped on the TV and set the channel to NBC (Today Show), to see what was going on in the world. They had just come back from commercial's and there LIVE on TV was a live shot from a helicopter high above the NY skyline in the morning, showing the whole world a tall building, with billowing smoke coming out of it. I remember she reported that they believed a small commuter plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers at the WTC. I remember saying to myself "Bummer". Then after about 8-10 minutes I was on the phone with my boyfriend telling him he was missing a great call in NYC, but we lived in New Jersey.
(He is Firechief here in our town.) He was on his way home to see what was going on and after I hung up with him, I turned my attention back to the TV right to see a live shot from one of the helicopters the second plane to hit the other Tower. I knew something was wrong. The whole day we watched and just couldnt believe what was going on. As the months went on and we began to pick up the pieces, I was shopping at our local Target and came across this book that had just came out. I grabbed it with out even looking at the price and knew I had to have it. I am a history junkie and would love to have a copy for future memories and to share with family and friends. I was not disappointed with this book, the DVD was alittle off and drifted from the main plot, but I will still always remember where I was when I heard the news. Like people say they remember where they were when they heard about JFK being shot, the Shuttle exploding (both times), Princess Diana's death and the Oklahoma City bombing. Great book to have around for reference and to share the stories with if you have small children who wouldnt remember that day.

I have to believe that CBS News could come up with a better DVD on the events of 9/11 than this one. I was hoping to see the CBS live coverage of the tragedy but was greatly disappointed. Outside of about 10 minutes of live coverage of the world trade center attacks, the vast majority of the DVD is nothing but segments from 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. Human interest stories are great to fill out this sort of thing but there is far too much of it here. I was astounded to note that CBS apparently had no live coverage of the collapse of either tower. And no mention at all was made of Flight 93 as the events unfold in this program - such coverage only occupying an isolated 5-10 minutes halfway through the DVD. CBS had an opportunity here to give us and future generations a real feel for an historic event as it unfolded ... and they blew it.

I didn't get to see the events of September 11, 2001 unfold. Sadly, I spent most of that day sleeping, as I had worked the night before and needed to rest up for a busy night at work. Too bad I didn't realize that while I was sleeping, the world as I knew it changed forever.

We all know how bad 9-11 was for American and world society. It is probably the most crippling thing to ever happen to this country. I always wanted to see what it was like that fateful morning, to see how news reporters reacted to the shocking development of a commuter plane crashing into a tower in the World Trade Center, to the horryfying conclusion that a terrorist group was trying to destroy America.

Fortunately, CBS News decided to release a book/DVD set called "What We Saw". I cannot recommend this enough, as it features in depth analysis of what witnesses saw that day, and step-by-step recounts of the aftermath of the destruction that took place in New York, Washington DC, and a little town in Pennsylvania.

The book is well written, thought provoking, and has deep insight into the true meaning of September 11. But the reason I bought the book was for the enclosed DVD, and it did not disappoint. For those of you like me who were unfortunate enough to not have seen the events unfolding that day, you can now experience the horror and find out what made 9-11 the worst day in American history.

If you see this book, do not hesistate to buy it. It's also for a good cause, as 10 percent of all profits go to the Robin Hood Relief Fund, who provide support to the low-income families of the tragedy.

I bought this because I thought the book would be an excellent visual account of events, but was very disappointed. The black and white photos are grainy and not the high gloss photo of say a TIME magazine. The photos weren't ones that "capture" any moment. You know the ones that really stayed in our minds long afterwards - are all missing from this book. It is mostly about how the news crew rememberd the day, how they covered it, how it affected them, and not the events themselves. I would say the CBS covereage of the events were poor and is probably why I watched the events unfold on another statation. I also bought a couple of others for comparison and those are far superior as a documention of the day.

I agree with the reviewer who identified this as a DVD accompanied by a book. The initial moments after 9/11 began are well documented, even Bryant Gumbel's missing the second plane flying towards the second tower. What is there is Gumbel's astonishment, and lack of words, when he first views the Pentagon damage; and later, as Dan Rather takes over at 10 a.m., in the background, unmistakably you hear Gumble's "Wooooow." Once Rather takes over there are two and three hour jumps, which just don't make for an even rendering of the events. However, in contrast to the CNN DVD, which focuses on what the U.S. government did after 9/11, the CBS DVD focuses on how people reacted ... some in unique and astonishing ways. I'm still looking for a simple documentary of 9/11, warts and all, of the reporting of the events from 8:48 a.m. through approximately 12:00 noon, I want to see the reactions of the newscasters. On the other hand, this is much better than the CNN documentary.

This book is a collection of press accounts of what various people saw on the September 11, 2001, and the days immediately following. Containing a host of black-and-white pictures, this book took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions, as I relived what I saw during those days. This book even contains a terribly haunting picture that I have not seen since those days - one of the towers burning, it's windows filled with people trying to get air...or escape...

As an added bonus, this book comes with an excellent DVD, in which Dan Rather narrates a collection of CBS news reports, many of which are covered within the book. If you want to look back on 911 with the same perspective that you had on that day, then I cannot recommend this moving book highly enough.

Rather than thinking of "What We Saw" as a book with a DVD, think of this as a DVD that comes with a book attached to it. This is an important chronicle of the date of infamy for our generation, and lets us re-live that horrific date through the medium most Americans experienced it: television. The DVD is a 2-hour long documentary of CBS News coverage of 9/11 and the aftermath of the Attack on America. We see Bryant Gumble talk to witnesses of the first plane crash, as a second one flies into the South Tower, to the astonishment of everyone. Then, we see the Pentagon in flames. We can hear in the "Oh my goodness!" of Gumble, a certain tone, that something that will forever change our nation has just happened.

"What We Saw" includes in text, photos, and the DVD the story of the Attack on America, but also more importantly, the way the nation responded. Personally, I wish the DVD contained some things left behind. Who can forget, having watched television on 9/11/01, the site of Congressional leaders announcing how they'd support the President, spontaneously singing "God Bless America" in unison. Who could forget the President's attempts to calm the nation that night, when no one knew if we were about to be hit again. Who could forget watching President Bush in an informal briefing in the Oval Office choke back tears the following Thursday as he said, "I'm a loving man," but vowed to bring justice to those responsible. Who could forget the emotionally draining memorial service on the National Day of Mourning, September 14, 2001? That service at least is included in a John Roberts report on how President Bush become Comforter-in-Chief, but seeing more would have been a little more fulfilling.

The DVD also shifts from the attack itself, to the recovery. The heroes of 9/11, the people who made it out alive, the people who gave up their normal lives for weeks on end to volunteer at Ground Zero. These pieces from "60 Minutes," "48 Hours," and "Sunday Morning" are very important reminders of how America recovered from the attack.

Ultimately, "What We Saw" is a story of hope, as an entire generation of Americans saw the darkest hour we'd ever known. And how, through that darkness, came a light of hope, that seemed at first to flicker, but would move beyond the clouds to provide sunshine as we lived through the finest hour our nation has known. That spirit of unity, love, devotion to duty is What We Saw. That's why "What We Saw" is necessary viewing for Americans for years to come.