Ash from the World Trade Center had barely settled after September 11, 2001, when names and pictures of the victims began appearing on makeshift fliers, posted on makeshift bulletin boards around lower Manhattan. Missing: Dennis P. McHugh of Ladder Company 13. Call the number below. Richard O'Connor. Worked for Marsh & McClennan on the 100th floor of the WTC. Peter J. O'Neill. Worked for Sandler O'Neill & Partners at 2 World Trade Center. Please help us find Marie. Her children and I need her.

In a soulful tribute to the thousands lost that day, New York Times journalists began collecting data and the phone numbers of the disproportionately Irish surnames that comprised the sad Manhattan collage. What resulted was a daily column in the Times, "Portraits of Grief", a remarkable memorial that humanized the names and faces of those lost. In all, 140 New York Times columnists volunteered to interview surviving family members and write the portraits. In 2002, Times Books released Portraits 9/11/01, a splendid anthology of over 1900 of the excerpted New York Times columns--a collection of life celebrations, not obituaries.

Reading like an Irish roll call, Portraits 9/11/01 offers multi-page list of martyred Kellys: James J. Kelly, who made Mets fans of his four daughters. And there is Joseph Kelly of the firm Cantor Fitzgerald, a man who once left a brand-new car on his parents' driveway and then "forgot" to reclaim it. Maurice Patrick Kelly, a carpenter who boasted an arm tattoo of the Grim Reaper, was patching a ceiling on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center on September 11th. Thomas Kelly--two of them, both firemen, died on September 11th. The "the loveliest of the lovelies" is what Timothy C. Kelly called his wife.

The Mc's seemingly go on forever. McAlery. McAneny. McAvoy. McCabe. McCabe. McCarthy. McCarthy. McCarthy. McCloskey. McDonnell. From the portrait of Eamon McEneaney, a hero of the initial WTC attack in 1993, a man who saved sixty-three terrified co-workers that day by joking while leading them down endless smoke-filled stairwells: "All he ever told his wife was that he came down the stairs with some friends." Ann McGovern, a claims analyst for Aon Corporation on the 93rd floor of 2 World Trade Center, lived for her grandson, golf, and her black sports car, her daughter says.

Across the land post-September 11th flag flying has waned. After a brief mourning period, the great American block party has been rejoined. Portraits 9/11/01 can only remind us that we can lose what we hold dear in an instant. Read five portraits a day and you'll finish in a little over a year.

A moving tribute...After reading this book..I go back to it again and again...What a tragedy 9-11 was for us all...

I bought this book years ago but can still say, without a doubt, what a GREAT book it is. I used to read several pages a night, and really enjoyed reading the personal stories of all the people involved in 9/11. The book allows you to put a face (in most cases there are pictures) with a name and read a short biography about each person (usually written by a family member). It's a good resource that details who these people are, instead of just being numbers. Also, in most cases, the stories tell how and why the particular person was where they were that morning, which is extremely interesting. It's a really great tribute.

Portraits 9/11/01 (2nd edition) provides a glimpse of one or two facets of the lives of those who were cruelly snuffed out before their time in a civilized and developed world. I can say it's been the single most influential book about people's lives I have ever read (of course, I have an emotional connection with 9/11 that probably makes for my strong opinion about the book). The vignettes demonstrated the extraordinary impact that so many ordinary people had on the lives of their loved ones, their families, friends, and even coworkers. The book was truly democratic and blind to the usual forms of discrimination. As a nation, we quickly recovered. The process of healing for the families of those that were affected will take much longer. Their lives will never be the same again.

Kudos to the entire team of reporters and staff for their effective research and writing.