Unthinkable_ Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why - Amanda Ripley [132]
Andrew Carnegie and the Heroism Fund
See Joseph Frazier Wall, Andrew Carnegie.
Ronald Johnson’s study of the Carnegie Heroes comes from IPT Journal.
Lenny Skutnik
The Washington Times story was written by Cathryn Donohoe.
Columbine High School Massacre
The findings of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s investigation into the Columbine shootings come from the official report. It can be ordered from the sheriff’s office or found in various places online, including Salon: archive. salon.com/news/special/columbine_report/index.htm. The relevant section is the “Findings of the Library Team.”
A remarkably similar narrative captured the public imagination after 9/11. Todd Beamer, a passenger aboard United Flight 93, was heard to have yelled, “Let’s roll!” before he and a group of fellow passengers confronted the terrorists. Soon afterward, the plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. (Of the four hijacked planes, it was the only one not to hit a target.) “Let’s roll” became a chorus for a stricken nation. Neil Young released “Let’s Roll,” the song, Todd’s widow wrote Let’s Roll! the bestselling book, and President Bush ended a speech to the nation with the words, “My fellow Americans, let’s roll.” Later, the 9/11 Commission quietly concluded on page 14 of its report that the more likely statement was, “Roll it,” a decidedly less inspiring but perhaps more pragmatic command—possibly in reference to a food cart, which the passengers may or may not have used as a battering ram. As is so often the case in disasters, no one will ever really know for sure.
Paying for Interviews
Legitimate reporters, especially of the print variety, do not pay for interviews. The theory is that paying for information increases the chances of getting bad information. Money distorts the relationship between the reporter and the source—a relationship that is already fraught with complications. Or, as the New York Times’s ethics policy explains it, “We do not pay for interviews or unpublished documents: to do so would create an incentive for sources to falsify material and would cast into doubt the genuineness of much that we publish.”
Of course, even without payment, all sources have an agenda, even if it is to spread the truth or prevent inaccuracies. But money is particularly toxic, even among people with the best of intentions, as anyone who has done battle over a family estate can tell you. Whether this is a perfect policy, I don’t know. Certainly, many reporters have violated it. But I think if you asked most readers whether they wanted journalists to pay for information, they would say no.
For all these reasons, I am profoundly grateful to the many hundreds of people who have allowed me to interview them for this book. They have donated endless hours of time, indulging me in all manner of inane conversations and then taking follow-up calls for months afterward—all for free.
CONCLUSION: MAKING NEW INSTINCTS
Rick Rescorla
The story of Rescorla is based on interviews with his widow and his colleagues, as well as news clippings and the wonderfully written portrait of Rescorla by James B. Stewart, Heart of a Soldier.
Robert Edwards’s documentary was never completed, but as of the printing of this book, you could watch it here: http://www.atomfilms.com/film/voice_prophet.jsp.
The ratio of Trade Center employees who did not know the roof doors would be locked comes from Gershon’s survey.
Major Robert L. Bateman’s tribute to Rescorla comes from the magazine Vietnam.
Fear of Litigation
The comments from fire-safety officials about New York City’s new rules were made at a September 15, 2006, meeting held in New York by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The meeting was held to discuss the implications and early findings of Robyn Gershon’s evacuation study.
Mayor Nagin’s concerns about liability come from Bruce Nolan’s Times-Picayune story on August 28, 2005.
The study of parent-taught driver’s education was conducted by V. J. Pezoldt, K. N. Womack, and D. E. Morris at the Texas Transportation Institute.