Beginning as a local tragedy, the attack on the World Trade Center towers quickly assumed both national and international import. This collection of essays, edited by social critics Sorkin (editor, The Next Jerusalem) and Zukin (Landscapes of Power), seeks to revisit the tragedy as a local event and consider September 11 in light of New York's urban history. The essays, by the editors and 17 urbanists, examine how the towers came to be built and the neighborhoods that had to be destroyed to make way for this paean to international commerce. They also examine the chilling parallels between this attack and the Wall Street bombing of 1920, as well as the violation of the building codes that took place during construction of the towers. Throughout, there is deep concern for what the towers' construction and demolition and likely plans for reconstruction have to say about democracy in the nation's financial capital. Collectively, all the contributors (e.g., Marshall Berman, Beverly Gage, Edwin G. Burrows) call for a more democratic New York, one where the voices of all the people can be heard, not just the economically and politically powerful.