"If you have tears, prepare to shed them."

—Frank McCourt

"In the firehouse, the men not only live and eat with each other,

they play sports together, go off to drink together, help repair one

another's houses, and, most important, share terrifying risks; their

loyalties to each other must, by the demands of the dangers they face,

be instinctive and absolute."

So writes David Halberstam, one of America's most distinguished reporters and historians, in this stunning New York Times

bestselling book about Engine 40, Ladder 35, located on the West Side

of Manhattan near Lincoln Center. On the morning of September 11, 2001,

two rigs carrying thirteen men set out from this firehouse: twelve of

them would never return.

Firehouse takes us to the epicenter of the tragedy. Through

the kind of intimate portraits that are Halberstam's trademark, we watch

the day unfold—the men called to duty while their families wait

anxiously for news of them. In addition, we come to understand the

culture of the firehouse itself: why gifted men do this; why, in so many

instances, they are eager to follow in their fathers' footsteps and

serve in so dangerous a profession; and why, more than anything else, it

is not just a job, but a calling.

This is journalism-as-history at its best, the story of what happens

when one small institution gets caught in an apocalyptic day. Firehouse is a book that will move readers as few others have in our time.