Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite

We're Not Leaving, 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice, and Renewal comprises 125 interviews with First Responders who rushed to help after the horrific attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2011. In the three hundred pages of this book, NYPD and NYFD officers, paramedics, iron workers, priests, and psychiatrists tell about their work on the "Pile" to recover the bodies or body parts of those who perished. In words that will not leave the reader, these men and women recount the horror of what they have endured since those terrifying days when they worked long hours in what was finally found to be unsafe and poisonous conditions. The words of each responder are not filled with hate for the physical and mental traumas they suffer as a result of their work at the World Trade Center disaster site. Instead, their words recount their bravery and the bravery of their fallen comrades. Many of these incredible people have gone on to sponsor foundations to help each other endure. These are the words of once ordinary people who responded to disaster with courage, self-sacrifice and patriotism. This book is a guide for us all in the dark times we are living in today.

In We're Not Leaving, Dr. Luft and a team of professional editors, videographers, and interviewers have created a memorable reading experience. Each responder tells the story in his/her own voice. The black and white pictures of the World Trade Center disaster that are scattered throughout the book only add positively to the text. This well-written, well-organized testimony to a dreadful time in our history belongs on all library shelves, whether public, private or college. It is a truly brilliant work, and its message will last for decades.