Twin Towers: The Life of New York City's World Trade Center Hardcover – 1 Nov. 1999

Very interesting

This is a must for anyone with an interest in the background and construction of the World Trade Center.Gillespie has certainly done his homework and the book has a brilliant flow. The personal protectives of those involved in the process from conception to completion give this book that human touch.Also, not being much if reader, the layout, flow and jargon isn't too heavy.Well worth it.

Although I know a little about the World Trade Center, I purchsed this book in the hope of increasing my knowledge of the sixteen acre complex. Gillespie's work was truly informative and it was interesting as far as the Twin Towers were concerned. The author mainly delves into the history behind the conception and construction of the WTC, while the last chapters are filled with a breif history of the complex since it's opening up until the mid/late 1990's.Despite enjoying it overall, there were a few things that tarnished the book. Gillespie talks a lot about the history of the Port Authority and their struggle to build the Trade Center. This takes up over one third of the book, which gets quite political and does not always relate back to the WTC. Secondly, he focuses mainly on the Twin Towers and does not really talk about the surrounding buildings in any great detail, although he does mention WTC3 near the end of the book. Lastly, the book doesn't contain any photographs, which I felt could have better illustrated Gillespie's narrative, although it does contain several interesting diagrams relating to construction. In spite of these factors, I would recommend the work as it was quite fascinating.

An absorbing book for admirers of the noble structures that stood at the southernmost tip of Manhattan until their unfortunate demise in 2001.

more than a decade after the fall of the twin Towers it is useful and more than neccessary. Even in an over-informed society such background information is still a Need.

Lacked pictures of World Trade Center. Would have allowed you to not just read about the WTC, but also see what you were reading about. For example, I would have liked to have seen a picture of the Austin Tobin Plaza relative to the buildings. Pictures of the PATH and Subway stations should have also been provided relative to the Concourse. Nonetheless, it was an excellent read.

Libro tutto da leggere: dalla scarsa descrizione del prodotto su Amazon da cui non si intuiva come era fatto, ho scoperto che è solo testoPer me che sono amante dei libri fotografici.. una delusione: è al 95% tutto scritto, in inglese per giunta, con solo un paio di pagine di fotografie in bianco e nero al centro..

Well... I only heard about twin towers and was interested in learning more so i went to look for books and i saw this one and i was happy and i bought it and i started reading it and it was very interested i recommend u buy this book and read to a kid because my older 10 year old daughter got on her phone and absolutly LOVED. It. :)

Twin Towers is one of the few successful endeavors to capture the spirit of the World Trade Center. It is not a photo album, and it only contains a few black and white figures. Nevertheless, it gives a comprehensive description of all aspects of the Trade Center project, from the political motivation that lead to its construction to the way architectural trends evolved in the seventies and caused the Twin Towers to be despised by most architects. It also depicts the Port Authority as an ambitious success-driven and proud agency and the Twin Towers as an American icon. Given his biases, the author does not linger too much on the grievances of the tenants that were dislodged from the WTC site to allow its construction nor does he question the legitimity of such a project. He merely states the facts: progress is mercyless.The colorful style of the book makes it easy to read and anecdotes and quotes of some of the people who actually participated to the construction of the center abound.What can be regretted is the book's absence of cohesion at times: it seems like each chapter has been written separately, resulting in numerous repetitions from chapter to chapter. Twin Towers also looses some marks for its endless description of the author's attendance to an introductory course to world trade, which could have been better incorporated within the text.Overall, the merit of Twin Towers is that through the pages of the book, the reader discovers the World Trade Center through the eyes of those who were directly involved with its construction; the grievance is that this is mosly a Port Authoriry's view of the World Trade Center project.

Excellent read and history of these NYC icons.