Above Hallowed Ground: A Photographic Record of September 11, 2001

An in-depth visual chronicle of the 9/11 tragedy, its aftermath, and the heroism of those who saved thousands of lives.

On the morning of September 11th, a new kind of horror shook the world. Terrorists crashed two passenger airliners into the World Trade Center in the worst attack on U.S. soil in the nation's history. But at the same time a new generation of heroes rose up to fight it.

These images, which had never been published before, offer a vantage point no ordinary photographers could obtain: They were taken by members of the New York City Police Department, uniformed and civilian, who were on the scene moments after the first plane hit and who were behind the scenes during the entire rescue and recovery effort.

Many officers took photos during the course of their duties. Some were inside the lobbies of the World Trade Center before they collapsed. Some were in helicopters hovering near the burning towers. Some were trapped in the dust cloud after the buildings fell. They took pictures of the pandemonium around them, the fear, the effort, the exasperation. This collection portrays the courage of those who rushed into the danger so that others could escape it.

One of the featured photographers, Detective Dave Fitzpatrick, was off-duty when he heard a report of the attack over his radio. He immediately went to an NYPD airfield, joined a crew boarding a police helicopter, and flew to the World Trade Center. Over the course of three flights that day, Fitzpatrick shot thousands of photographs that became the only aerial views of the devastation and early rescue efforts downtown. He also covered all Ground Zero operations for the next two months. His best photos, along with those of numerous other members of the NYPD, have been collected in this book.