Publisher's Synopsis
9/12 is the saga of the epic legal, political, scientific, and medical battle of the more than ten thousand first responders who became ill as a result of working on the Ground Zero cleanup. These first responders—like AT&T Disaster Relief head Gary Acker and New York Police Department detectives Candiace Baker, Thomas Ryan, and Mindy Hersh—rushed to Ground Zero and remained to work on the rescue and recovery mission, which lasted for the next nine months. Their selfless bravery and humanity were rewarded with horrible health issues resulting from the toxic stew of chemicals present in the dust and debris that government officials such as Mayor Rudy Giuliani and EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman had assured them was safe. William Groner, a lead attorney in the mass tort litigation, battled the City of New York for almost a decade, fighting for their illnesses to be acknowledged and for them to receive validation and closure, as well as for compensation—an eventual aggregate award of more than $800 million. Told by Groner and journalist Tom Teicholz, 9/12 is the story of the brave public servants who showed up when their country needed them most, of their fight for redress, and of their victory in the face of the seemingly insurmountable.
