This extraordinary archive of pictures is the only existing photographic record of Ground Zero after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. Fenced off and classified as a crime scene, the area was closed to all photographers, and only scant information was available about the activities in the guarded enclosure that became known as “the forbidden city.”  Through sheer persistence involving almost daily acts of resourcefulness and defiance, Joel Meyerowitz became the sole photographer to have continued access to the site and described its transformation over the next nine months, from a place of total devastation to cleared bedrock.

Published to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, this book serves not only as an elegy to the thousands who lost their lives, but also celebrates the tireless effort and bravery of the thousands of police officers, firefighters, construction workers, engineers, and volunteers who assisted in the clean-up process.

Presented on a monumental scale, these images of physical ruin and emotional strength—interspersed with personal reminiscences and stories of those working at the site—place on record the moments of courage, compassion, and solidarity that occurred there.