
Ordinary Heroes
A Memoir of 9/11
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $15.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fred Sanders
-
By:
-
Joseph Pfeifer
About this listen
New York Times best seller
From the first FDNY chief to respond to the 9/11 attacks, an intimate memoir and a tribute to those who died that others might live
When Chief Joe Pfeifer led his firefighters to investigate an odor of gas in downtown Manhattan on the morning of 9/11, he had no idea that his life was about to change forever. A few moments later, he watched as the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Pfeifer, the closest FDNY chief to the scene, spearheaded rescue efforts on one of the darkest days in American history.
Ordinary Heroes is the unforgettable and intimate account of what Chief Pfeifer witnessed at Ground Zero, on that day and the days that followed. Through his eyes, we see the horror of the attack and the courage of the firefighters who ran into the burning towers to save others. We see him send his own brother up the stairs of the North Tower, never to return. And we walk with him and his fellow firefighters through weeks of rescue efforts and months of numbing grief, as they wrestle with the real meaning of heroism and leadership.
This gripping narrative gives way to resiliency and a determination that permanently reshapes Pfeifer, his fellow firefighters, NYC, and America. Ordinary Heroes takes us on a journey that turns traumatic memories into hope, so we can make good on our promise to never forget 9/11.
©2021 Joseph Pfeifer (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Five Floors Up
- The Heroic Family Story of Four Generations in the FDNY
- By: Brian McDonald
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan, Brian McDonald
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seen through the eyes of four generations of a firefighter family, Five Floors Up the story of the modern New York City Fire Department. From the days just after the horse-drawn firetruck, to the devastation of the 1970s when the Bronx was Burning, to the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11, to the culture-busting department of today, a Feehan has worn the shoulder patch of the FDNY. The tale shines the spotlight on the career of William M. Feehan.
-
-
The Blue Bloods of the FDNY.
- By J Serow on 04-07-25
By: Brian McDonald
-
Fall and Rise
- The Story of 9/11
- By: Mitchell Zuckoff
- Narrated by: Mitchell Zuckoff, Sean Pratt
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La delivers his most compelling and vital work yet - a spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative, years in the making, that weaves together myriad stories to create the definitive portrait of 9/11.
-
-
Outstanding in Every Way...THIS IS US!
- By tarafarah7: Tara Brown on 08-30-19
By: Mitchell Zuckoff
-
Report from Ground Zero
- By: Dennis Smith
- Narrated by: Eric Conger, Jeff David, Don Leslie
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Immediately after two hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Dennis Smith volunteered in the rescue effort. Having spent his career as both a respected writer and a member of one of the city's busiest firehouses, Smith became determined to use his unique background to tell the story of the disaster and its aftermath with the empathy and understanding that only an insider could bring to it. In this audio memoir, he has collected astonishing first-person testimony.
-
-
Intersting choice of narrator
- By Sara Roltgen on 09-24-18
By: Dennis Smith
-
Fully Involved Leadership
- Successful Strategies in Leadership from the Firefighter to the Fire Chief
- By: Gary Ludwig
- Narrated by: Frank DiPiazza
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the fire service’s most well-known and respected leaders reveals principles and events that have shaped his career and leadership values that no “cookie-cutter” leadership or management book can provide. The real-world experiences and lessons that are vividly detailed in the audiobook provide a road map for any aspiring firefighter wishing to be promoted, a company or chief officer looking to go to the next level, or a fire chief who wishes to further develop their leadership skills.
-
-
So Basic, So Repetitive
- By Aaron Andrew Schmidt on 01-10-25
By: Gary Ludwig
-
Report from Engine Co. 82
- By: Dennis Smith
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Report from Engine Co. 82 is the story of one company of New York firefighters battling unimaginable death and destruction every day. Dennis Smith worked as a firefighter in the South Bronx, New York City, and the graphic detail and gripping prose of this firefighting classic drives the most important, accomplished, terrifying audiobook ever published on firefighting.
-
-
stog was good
- By Bagladybl on 08-24-21
By: Dennis Smith
-
The Only Plane in the Sky
- An Oral History of September 11, 2001
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York City, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker underneath the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard the small number of unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down.
-
-
This should be required listening
- By LManc on 09-13-19
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
Five Floors Up
- The Heroic Family Story of Four Generations in the FDNY
- By: Brian McDonald
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan, Brian McDonald
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seen through the eyes of four generations of a firefighter family, Five Floors Up the story of the modern New York City Fire Department. From the days just after the horse-drawn firetruck, to the devastation of the 1970s when the Bronx was Burning, to the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11, to the culture-busting department of today, a Feehan has worn the shoulder patch of the FDNY. The tale shines the spotlight on the career of William M. Feehan.
-
-
The Blue Bloods of the FDNY.
- By J Serow on 04-07-25
By: Brian McDonald
-
Fall and Rise
- The Story of 9/11
- By: Mitchell Zuckoff
- Narrated by: Mitchell Zuckoff, Sean Pratt
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La delivers his most compelling and vital work yet - a spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative, years in the making, that weaves together myriad stories to create the definitive portrait of 9/11.
-
-
Outstanding in Every Way...THIS IS US!
- By tarafarah7: Tara Brown on 08-30-19
By: Mitchell Zuckoff
-
Report from Ground Zero
- By: Dennis Smith
- Narrated by: Eric Conger, Jeff David, Don Leslie
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Immediately after two hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Dennis Smith volunteered in the rescue effort. Having spent his career as both a respected writer and a member of one of the city's busiest firehouses, Smith became determined to use his unique background to tell the story of the disaster and its aftermath with the empathy and understanding that only an insider could bring to it. In this audio memoir, he has collected astonishing first-person testimony.
-
-
Intersting choice of narrator
- By Sara Roltgen on 09-24-18
By: Dennis Smith
-
Fully Involved Leadership
- Successful Strategies in Leadership from the Firefighter to the Fire Chief
- By: Gary Ludwig
- Narrated by: Frank DiPiazza
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the fire service’s most well-known and respected leaders reveals principles and events that have shaped his career and leadership values that no “cookie-cutter” leadership or management book can provide. The real-world experiences and lessons that are vividly detailed in the audiobook provide a road map for any aspiring firefighter wishing to be promoted, a company or chief officer looking to go to the next level, or a fire chief who wishes to further develop their leadership skills.
-
-
So Basic, So Repetitive
- By Aaron Andrew Schmidt on 01-10-25
By: Gary Ludwig
-
Report from Engine Co. 82
- By: Dennis Smith
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Report from Engine Co. 82 is the story of one company of New York firefighters battling unimaginable death and destruction every day. Dennis Smith worked as a firefighter in the South Bronx, New York City, and the graphic detail and gripping prose of this firefighting classic drives the most important, accomplished, terrifying audiobook ever published on firefighting.
-
-
stog was good
- By Bagladybl on 08-24-21
By: Dennis Smith
-
The Only Plane in the Sky
- An Oral History of September 11, 2001
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York City, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker underneath the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard the small number of unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down.
-
-
This should be required listening
- By LManc on 09-13-19
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
102 Minutes
- The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
- By: Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, 14,000 people were inside the twin towers; reading e-mails, making trades, eating croissants at Windows on the World. Over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages, one witnessed only by the people who lived it, until now.
-
-
102 Minutes--A Review
- By Leadinglove421 on 02-13-05
By: Jim Dwyer, and others
-
Against All Odds
- A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II
- By: Alex Kershaw
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Allies raced to defeat Hitler, four men, all in the same unit, earned medal after medal for battlefield heroism. Maurice “Footsie” Britt, a former professional football player, became the very first American to receive every award for valor in a single war. Michael Daly was a West Point dropout who risked his neck over and over to keep his men alive. Keith Ware would one day become the first and only draftee in history to attain the rank of general before serving in Vietnam. In WWII, Ware owed his life to the finest soldier he ever commanded, a baby-faced Texan named Audie Murphy.
-
-
The Greatest Generation.
- By Jay Voigt on 05-28-22
By: Alex Kershaw
-
From the Inside Out
- Harrowing Escapes from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center
- By: Erik O. Ronningen
- Narrated by: Andrew Firda, Katie McCall
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Erik Ronningen was on the 71st floor of the North Tower on September 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building. After an incredible, near miraculous journey down through the acrid, smoke-filled building, Erik tried to get to the security command center in the South Tower. Unable to do so, he was the last person to make it out of the South Tower alive. Here is the story of his harrowing escape, interwoven with the accounts of 14 others who were lucky enough to be able to recount them.
-
-
The Horrific Truth reported in palatable form.
- By Julia on 12-11-15
-
3000 Degrees
- The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought It
- By: Sean Flynn
- Narrated by: Richard Rohan
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On December 3, 1999, the call crackled in to the men of the Worchester, Massachusetts Fire Department: a three-alarm warehouse blaze in a six-story windowless colossus of brick and mortar. What happened next - and how their lives and community were changed forever - offers an unprecedented look at these heroic men whose job it is to rush into burning buildings when everyone else just wants out.
-
-
a book about a very heroic breed
- By Andy on 06-03-03
By: Sean Flynn
-
Voices of the Pacific, Expanded Edition
- Untold Stories from the Marine Heroes of World War II
- By: Adam Makos, Marcus Brotherton - contributor
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain, Michael Crouch, Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of A Higher Call and Spearhead comes an unflinching firsthand chronicle of the heroic US Marines who fought on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and in other pivotal battles during the Pacific War, a classic book now expanded with new stories from the flyboys overhead and the home front at war.
-
-
BUY If You Love "The Things Our Fathers Saw..."
- By J.Brock on 11-07-21
By: Adam Makos, and others
-
Granite Mountain
- The Firsthand Account of a Tragic Wildfire, Its Lone Survivor, and the Firefighters Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice
- By: Brendan McDonough, Stephan Talty - contributor
- Narrated by: John Glouchevitch
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The true story behind the events that inspired the major motion picture Only the Brave. A "unique and bracing" (Booklist) first-person account by the sole survivor of Arizona's disastrous 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire, which took the lives of 19 "hotshots" - firefighters trained specifically to battle wildfires. Brendan McDonough was on the verge of becoming a hopeless, inveterate heroin addict when he, for the sake of his young daughter, decided to turn his life around. He enlisted in the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of elite firefighters based in Prescott, Arizona.
-
-
Thank you Brendan
- By Kenton on 06-07-16
By: Brendan McDonough, and others
-
401 Things Veteran Firefighters Can Teach You
- Firefighter Tips and Tricks of the Trade
- By: Gary Ludwig
- Narrated by: Larry Peterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by 42-plus-year veteran Fire Chief Gary Ludwig and the foreword by Deputy Chief Billy Goldfeder, this book provides 401 ways to help you become a better firefighter.
-
-
Every Firefighter Can Learn Something From This Book
- By Mike Mavrogeorge on 01-26-21
By: Gary Ludwig
-
The Rescuer
- One Firefighter’s Story of Courage, Darkness, and the Relentless Love That Saved Him
- By: Jason Sautel, D.R. Jacobsen - contributor
- Narrated by: Mark Smeby
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He helped save people every day - but he had no idea how to save himself. Jason Sautel had it all. Confident in his abilities and trusted by his fellow firefighters, he was making a name for himself on the streets of Oakland, California. His adrenaline-fueled job even helped him forget the pain of his childhood - until the day he looked into the eyes of a jumper on the Bay Bridge and came face-to-face with a darkness he knew would take him down as well.
-
-
Real..... and good!
- By Anonymous User on 03-07-21
By: Jason Sautel, and others
-
Gutter Medicine: Twenty-Six Years as a Firefighter Paramedic
- By: Roger Huder
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My career as a firefighter/paramedic stretched from 1974 to 2000 when were inventing EMS as we went along. These are stories from those years on the street. That place I named so long ago, the other reality that exists just outside most people’s everyday lives. It is a place that seems to exist parallel to the normal workaday existence: yet it is only a car accident or cardiac away for any of us. It manifested itself in brushfires, house fires, shootings, stabbings, hangings, accidents with injuries, cardiacs, codes, drownings, and a thousand other emergencies.
-
-
Mesmerizing!
- By txdoc on 10-16-19
By: Roger Huder
-
A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
-
-
Color me grateful.
- By Angela on 11-19-20
By: Barack Obama
-
Scars and Stripes
- An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself
- By: Tim Kennedy, Nick Palmisciano
- Narrated by: Tim Kennedy
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tim Kennedy has a problem; he only feels alive right before he’s about to die. Kennedy, a Green Beret, decorated Army sniper, and UFC headliner, has tackled a bull with his bare hands, jumped out of airplanes, dove to the depths of the ocean, and traveled the world hunting poachers, human traffickers, and the Taliban. But he’s also the same man who got kicked out of the police department, fire department, and as an EMT, before getting two women pregnant four days apart, and finally, been beaten up by his Special Forces colleagues.
-
-
First review!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-07-22
By: Tim Kennedy, and others
-
In Harm's Way
- The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors
- By: Doug Stanton
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and dementia. By the time rescue arrived, all but 317 men had died. The captain's subsequent court-martial left many questions unanswered
-
-
Captivating
- By Clarence Sparks on 10-22-16
By: Doug Stanton
Critic reviews
Ordinary Heroes is clear-eyed, spellbinding, extraordinary.” (Vanity Fair)
"Pfeifer’s record of that day and its aftermath surely enters the canon as one of the necessary documents of 9/11. But it’s his inclusive sense of public service, one that values the heroism of those who do ordinary things in extraordinary times, that makes Ordinary Heroes a book for today. (The New York Times)
"With great humility, Chief Pfeifer has crafted a moving story of how the FDNY was anything but ordinary in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack this country has ever seen. An incredible picture of the resilience, humor, and heart of New York’s bravest." (Jon Stewart)
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Rescuer
- One Firefighter’s Story of Courage, Darkness, and the Relentless Love That Saved Him
- By: Jason Sautel, D.R. Jacobsen - contributor
- Narrated by: Mark Smeby
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He helped save people every day - but he had no idea how to save himself. Jason Sautel had it all. Confident in his abilities and trusted by his fellow firefighters, he was making a name for himself on the streets of Oakland, California. His adrenaline-fueled job even helped him forget the pain of his childhood - until the day he looked into the eyes of a jumper on the Bay Bridge and came face-to-face with a darkness he knew would take him down as well.
-
-
Real..... and good!
- By Anonymous User on 03-07-21
By: Jason Sautel, and others
-
Report from Ground Zero
- By: Dennis Smith
- Narrated by: Eric Conger, Jeff David, Don Leslie
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Immediately after two hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Dennis Smith volunteered in the rescue effort. Having spent his career as both a respected writer and a member of one of the city's busiest firehouses, Smith became determined to use his unique background to tell the story of the disaster and its aftermath with the empathy and understanding that only an insider could bring to it. In this audio memoir, he has collected astonishing first-person testimony.
-
-
Intersting choice of narrator
- By Sara Roltgen on 09-24-18
By: Dennis Smith
-
Five Floors Up
- The Heroic Family Story of Four Generations in the FDNY
- By: Brian McDonald
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan, Brian McDonald
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seen through the eyes of four generations of a firefighter family, Five Floors Up the story of the modern New York City Fire Department. From the days just after the horse-drawn firetruck, to the devastation of the 1970s when the Bronx was Burning, to the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11, to the culture-busting department of today, a Feehan has worn the shoulder patch of the FDNY. The tale shines the spotlight on the career of William M. Feehan.
-
-
The Blue Bloods of the FDNY.
- By J Serow on 04-07-25
By: Brian McDonald
-
From the Inside Out
- Harrowing Escapes from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center
- By: Erik O. Ronningen
- Narrated by: Andrew Firda, Katie McCall
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Erik Ronningen was on the 71st floor of the North Tower on September 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building. After an incredible, near miraculous journey down through the acrid, smoke-filled building, Erik tried to get to the security command center in the South Tower. Unable to do so, he was the last person to make it out of the South Tower alive. Here is the story of his harrowing escape, interwoven with the accounts of 14 others who were lucky enough to be able to recount them.
-
-
The Horrific Truth reported in palatable form.
- By Julia on 12-11-15
-
102 Minutes
- The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
- By: Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, 14,000 people were inside the twin towers; reading e-mails, making trades, eating croissants at Windows on the World. Over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages, one witnessed only by the people who lived it, until now.
-
-
102 Minutes--A Review
- By Leadinglove421 on 02-13-05
By: Jim Dwyer, and others
-
Fall and Rise
- The Story of 9/11
- By: Mitchell Zuckoff
- Narrated by: Mitchell Zuckoff, Sean Pratt
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La delivers his most compelling and vital work yet - a spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative, years in the making, that weaves together myriad stories to create the definitive portrait of 9/11.
-
-
Outstanding in Every Way...THIS IS US!
- By tarafarah7: Tara Brown on 08-30-19
By: Mitchell Zuckoff
-
The Rescuer
- One Firefighter’s Story of Courage, Darkness, and the Relentless Love That Saved Him
- By: Jason Sautel, D.R. Jacobsen - contributor
- Narrated by: Mark Smeby
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He helped save people every day - but he had no idea how to save himself. Jason Sautel had it all. Confident in his abilities and trusted by his fellow firefighters, he was making a name for himself on the streets of Oakland, California. His adrenaline-fueled job even helped him forget the pain of his childhood - until the day he looked into the eyes of a jumper on the Bay Bridge and came face-to-face with a darkness he knew would take him down as well.
-
-
Real..... and good!
- By Anonymous User on 03-07-21
By: Jason Sautel, and others
-
Report from Ground Zero
- By: Dennis Smith
- Narrated by: Eric Conger, Jeff David, Don Leslie
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Immediately after two hijacked jets struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Dennis Smith volunteered in the rescue effort. Having spent his career as both a respected writer and a member of one of the city's busiest firehouses, Smith became determined to use his unique background to tell the story of the disaster and its aftermath with the empathy and understanding that only an insider could bring to it. In this audio memoir, he has collected astonishing first-person testimony.
-
-
Intersting choice of narrator
- By Sara Roltgen on 09-24-18
By: Dennis Smith
-
Five Floors Up
- The Heroic Family Story of Four Generations in the FDNY
- By: Brian McDonald
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan, Brian McDonald
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seen through the eyes of four generations of a firefighter family, Five Floors Up the story of the modern New York City Fire Department. From the days just after the horse-drawn firetruck, to the devastation of the 1970s when the Bronx was Burning, to the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11, to the culture-busting department of today, a Feehan has worn the shoulder patch of the FDNY. The tale shines the spotlight on the career of William M. Feehan.
-
-
The Blue Bloods of the FDNY.
- By J Serow on 04-07-25
By: Brian McDonald
-
From the Inside Out
- Harrowing Escapes from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center
- By: Erik O. Ronningen
- Narrated by: Andrew Firda, Katie McCall
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Erik Ronningen was on the 71st floor of the North Tower on September 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building. After an incredible, near miraculous journey down through the acrid, smoke-filled building, Erik tried to get to the security command center in the South Tower. Unable to do so, he was the last person to make it out of the South Tower alive. Here is the story of his harrowing escape, interwoven with the accounts of 14 others who were lucky enough to be able to recount them.
-
-
The Horrific Truth reported in palatable form.
- By Julia on 12-11-15
-
102 Minutes
- The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
- By: Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, 14,000 people were inside the twin towers; reading e-mails, making trades, eating croissants at Windows on the World. Over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages, one witnessed only by the people who lived it, until now.
-
-
102 Minutes--A Review
- By Leadinglove421 on 02-13-05
By: Jim Dwyer, and others
-
Fall and Rise
- The Story of 9/11
- By: Mitchell Zuckoff
- Narrated by: Mitchell Zuckoff, Sean Pratt
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La delivers his most compelling and vital work yet - a spellbinding, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting narrative, years in the making, that weaves together myriad stories to create the definitive portrait of 9/11.
-
-
Outstanding in Every Way...THIS IS US!
- By tarafarah7: Tara Brown on 08-30-19
By: Mitchell Zuckoff
-
3000 Degrees
- The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought It
- By: Sean Flynn
- Narrated by: Richard Rohan
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On December 3, 1999, the call crackled in to the men of the Worchester, Massachusetts Fire Department: a three-alarm warehouse blaze in a six-story windowless colossus of brick and mortar. What happened next - and how their lives and community were changed forever - offers an unprecedented look at these heroic men whose job it is to rush into burning buildings when everyone else just wants out.
-
-
a book about a very heroic breed
- By Andy on 06-03-03
By: Sean Flynn
-
A Thousand Naked Strangers
- A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back
- By: Kevin Hazzard
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aftermath of 9/11, Kevin Hazzard felt that something was missing from his life - his days were too safe, too routine. A failed salesman turned local reporter, he wanted to test himself, see how he might respond to pressure and danger. He signed up for emergency medical training and became, at age 26, a newly minted EMT running calls in the worst sections of Atlanta. His life entered a different realm - one of blood, violence, and amazing grace.
-
-
A Wild Ride You Won't Forget!
- By Kathy in CA on 05-23-17
By: Kevin Hazzard
-
Report from Engine Co. 82
- By: Dennis Smith
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Report from Engine Co. 82 is the story of one company of New York firefighters battling unimaginable death and destruction every day. Dennis Smith worked as a firefighter in the South Bronx, New York City, and the graphic detail and gripping prose of this firefighting classic drives the most important, accomplished, terrifying audiobook ever published on firefighting.
-
-
stog was good
- By Bagladybl on 08-24-21
By: Dennis Smith
-
The Modern Fire Officer
- Communicate, Motivate, & Lead
- By: Jared Vermeulen
- Narrated by: Justin Koehn
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world has changed, the fire department has changed, and the firefighters you serve with have changed. Fire organizations offer more services to the public via a more diverse group of firefighters than ever before. Those that rely on you to serve and lead them deserve a fire officer who can effectively evolve to meet their specific and unique needs while keeping what has historically made the fire service great.
-
-
Great information
- By Michael McFadden on 01-22-25
By: Jared Vermeulen
-
Riding the Lightning
- A Year in the Life of a New York City Paramedic
- By: Anthony Almojera
- Narrated by: Anthony Almojera
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a seasoned paramedic and union leader, Anthony Almojera thought he could handle anything his job threw at him. Like many medical first responders, he came from a troubled background and carried the traumas of the city as well as its triumphs. He had grown up in the rough-and-tumble Park Slope of the 1980s, been homeless for a time, and had watched murder, addiction, and hopelessness consume those closest to him. But he had dedicated his life to helping people in need, and while every day was filled with tragedy—stabbings, shootings, accidents, suicides—it also brought moments of uplift.
-
-
Concerning
- By Owen monk on 01-30-23
By: Anthony Almojera
-
The Only Plane in the Sky
- An Oral History of September 11, 2001
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights, and the flight attendants inside the hijacked planes. In New York City, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable horror at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker underneath the White House, officials watch for incoming planes on radar. Aboard the small number of unarmed fighter jets in the air, pilots make a pact to fly into a hijacked airliner if necessary to bring it down.
-
-
This should be required listening
- By LManc on 09-13-19
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
Pride & Ownership
- A Firefighter's Love of the Job
- By: Rick Lasky
- Narrated by: Rick Lasky
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pride & Ownership holds no punches. Chief Rick Lasky takes a hard look at the fire service and finds it short on the only element that makes it effective: passion. Chief Lasky gives an upfront and honest criticism about the need to reignite the love of the job on every level, from chiefs and on down. Do you have what it takes?
-
-
I had a hard time making my way through this.
- By Zachary Simmons on 12-30-21
By: Rick Lasky
-
Gutter Medicine: Twenty-Six Years as a Firefighter Paramedic
- By: Roger Huder
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My career as a firefighter/paramedic stretched from 1974 to 2000 when were inventing EMS as we went along. These are stories from those years on the street. That place I named so long ago, the other reality that exists just outside most people’s everyday lives. It is a place that seems to exist parallel to the normal workaday existence: yet it is only a car accident or cardiac away for any of us. It manifested itself in brushfires, house fires, shootings, stabbings, hangings, accidents with injuries, cardiacs, codes, drownings, and a thousand other emergencies.
-
-
Mesmerizing!
- By txdoc on 10-16-19
By: Roger Huder
-
Firehouse
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Engine 40, Ladder 35 was one of the firehouses hardest hit in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade towers. On the morning of September 11, 2001, two rigs carrying 13 men set out from this firehouse, located on the West Side of Manhattan near Lincoln Center; 12 of the men would never return. The story of what happens when one small institution gets caught in an apocalyptic day, it is a book that will move readers as few others have in our time.
-
-
Short, but gripping
- By peabozzle on 11-11-11
By: David Halberstam
-
Burn Boston Burn
- The Story of the Largest Arson Case in the History of the Country
- By: Wayne M. Miller
- Narrated by: Chris Monteiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Burn Boston Burn is an astounding true crime narration. A conspiracy of nine men, including three Boston cops and a Boston firefighter, burned Boston and surrounding communities in the early 1980s due to tax-cutting measures that caused layoffs of hundreds of police and firefighters. Over two years, these fire buffs-turned-arsonists torched 264 buildings, causing millions of dollars in damages and hundreds of injuries. The city was ablaze with nightly fires, sirens wailing through the streets, and people too afraid to sleep.
-
-
A real disappointment
- By Amazon Customer on 01-02-20
By: Wayne M. Miller
-
Ordinary Heroes
- A Novel
- By: Scott Turow
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stewart Dubinsky knew his father had served in World War II. And he'd been told how David Dubin (as his father had Americanized the name that Stewart later reclaimed) had rescued Stewart's mother from the horror of the Balingen concentration camp. But when he discovers, after his father's death, a packet of wartime letters to a former fiancee, and learns of his father's court-martial and imprisonment, he is plunged into the mystery of his family's secret history.
-
-
Great book, even better performance
- By davidpvny on 11-28-05
By: Scott Turow
-
First In, Last Out
- Leadership Lessons from the New York Fire Department
- By: John Salka Battalion Chief FDNY, Dennis Smith - Introduction by, Barret Neville - With
- Narrated by: John Salka
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a high-ranking officer of the FDNY, John Salka is an expert at both practicing and teaching high-stakes leadership. In First In, Last Out, he explains the department's unique strategies and how they can be adopted by leaders in any field - as he has taught them to organizations around the country. In a tough-talking, no-nonsense style, Salka uses real-world stories to convey leadership imperatives.
-
-
Very Good.
- By Dustin Titzman on 10-22-21
By: John Salka Battalion Chief FDNY, and others
I couldn’t put the book down.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The transparency of what occurred that day told by the chief
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great boom
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heart tugging
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Mesmerizing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unbelievably Powerful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well written and well narrated.
Reliving the event through another
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Chief Pfeifer also endlessly helped in the aftermath and recovery efforts in the days and weeks after 9/11. And incredibly he devoted himself to the improving of the FDNY, Paramedics, police, and all first responders in the event of responce to high rise fires, counter terrorism, & biological terroism and he improved first responders communications. He is an incredible American, and for all of his efforts in the rescue & safety and future of those two things, they make Chief Pfeifer an incredible Hero to our country. He devoted himself entirely to improving the FDNY and first responders in the event of a terrorist attack.
I personally liked how Chief Pfeifer improved the FDNY'S marine units, equipping them with higher pressured hoses and units. For instance during the infamous "Landing on the Hudson", the responce time of FDNY marine units was incredible. they were able to rescue everyone within minutes of the plane landing in the Hudson. 200 stars this book gets. it was an amazing story. Please do yourself a favor and read or listen to it!
Incredible & inspiring.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
insight on an "Ordinary Hero" and his incidental journey to history
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.