After the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, New York City's Emerald Society Bagpipe Band of firefighter-musicians took out their instruments and prepared to bury their dead--343 brothers in duty and in blood. Many firefighters alternated between playing their instruments at funerals and digging for the missing in the rubble of Ground Zero. The Irish American tradition of funeral bagpiping became the sound of mourning for an entire nation. Bagpipe Brothers tells the unforgettable story of four firefighters in the band, whose stories illustrate the grief and recovery that the nation experienced in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. The bagpipe band lost one of its own, a beloved drummer, and also saw the respected brother of a member killed. Their stories include searching for the dead, struggling to bring peace to their families and themselves, coping with the endless round of funerals, and rethinking the meaning of faith. It is a moving experience to see this group of very strong men deal with unimaginable grief.

Kerry Sheridan has written the first book to cover the ordeal of the massive number of funerals, the importance of recovering bodies in Irish American culture, and the bagpiping ritual, both traditional and modern.