The 17 minutes it all changed: Recall how we lost our innocence in the space of a quarter hour

After a summer marked by an especially deadly toll of mass shootings, we now face the 18th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. I’ve spent the last three years compiling an oral history of that day, assembling the voices of 480 Americans as they experienced the trauma, coast to coast, morning to night.

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Peter Johansen, the captain of a New York Waterways ferry that morning, told journalist Jessica DuLong, “Honestly, I think most people felt it was a navigation accident. The reason I say that is our ferry continued around to Pier 11, the Wall St. terminal, and there were about 100 people on board. Every single one of them got off and went to work that morning.” They all walked into lower Manhattan for their normal commutes. Strange stuff happens in New York.