Battle for Ground Zero: Inside the Political Struggle to Rebuild the World Trade Center

The tension between commerce and commemoration at the World Trade Center site is given a riveting narrative construction by urban anthropologist Greenspan. Among the many questions Greenspan addresses is how to recreate millions of square feet of commercial office space on a site that has become a national symbol of mourning and, in some quarters, rage. Within days of the disaster, plans to rebuild arose amid contrasting, often conflicting, attempts to define what the site represented, and what it should become. From disaster area to graveyard to tourist attraction to construction site, Greenspan utilizes years of reporting on Ground Zero for the Atlantic Monthly and other publications, to create an engrossing and evolving portrait of unrealized expectations and political gamesmanship. Constantly returning to the streets surrounding Ground Zero, Greenspan captures the mood of both New Yorkers and the nation, as devout attempts by those less affected to claim a piece of spiritual ownership of 9/11 transform into frat-boy antics of jingoistic posturing in some cases, and developers battle designers over memorial space, while politicians opportunistically hover. As One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) approaches completion, Greenspan’s exactingly researched and artistically rendered reportage thoughtfully details its twisting journey upward. Agent: Irene Goodman, Irene Goodman Literary Agency. (Aug.)