Reviews and Praise for The Ground Truth

Publications

The New York Times, New York, NY
"A precise and reliable accounting of what happened has been absent until now. This is it." Read the full review.

StarTribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
"[A]n important re-examination of the events before, during and after the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center...compelling, well written...almost thriller-like in its narrative." Read the full review.

San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio, TX
"The federal government's structure, especially the intelligence and defense commands, remains too rigid. Uncooperative bureaucracies, geared to their own specific turfs, are too slow to change. The deception could happen again." Read the full review.

Kirkus Reviews
"An important systematic brief on how an elaborately constructed national-defense system was penetrated, and why lessons of that day for disaster response remain dimly understood." Read the full review.

Library Journal Review
"This book sheds new light on the events surrounding 9/11 and the role of government in handling crises and also serves as a rallying cry for change. Essential." Read the full review.

Authors and Other Luminaries

Bob Kerrey, Former US Senator and Member of the 9/11 Commission
"No one is more qualified to write the definitive book about the tragedy of 9/11 than John Farmer. Fortunately, he has done so. Even more fortunately the language is clear, alive and instructive for anyone who wants to make certain this never happens again."
 
Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge
"All Americans should read John Farmer's The Ground Truth. With keen analytical insight, Farmer rips the lid off of many mysteries pertaining to both the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina. A highly recommended historical curative for our times."

Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author
"In revisiting the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks that still haunt America, John Farmer provides a devastating account of how what government and military officials told Congress, the 9/11 Commission on which he served, the media, and the public 'was almost entirely, and inexplicably, untrue.' The result is a major, carefully documented and deeply disturbing book, one that deserves the most serious attention of every American concerned about our future."

Gary Hart, co-chair, U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century
"History and experience tell us that misperformance or malperformance of government duties inevitably comes to light. In The Ground Truth, Farmer proves this lesson once again. Worse than the overwhelming confusion during the critical minutes of the crisis was the clear effort to obscure the truth by senior agency officials responsible for protecting America. Reading Farmer's book, we cannot help but wonder whether many of those same agencies and officials are better prepared for the next 9/11."

William Langewiesche, author of American Ground and The Atomic Bazaar
"Revelatory--Farmer makes shattering new sense of the day's events and exposes the true disarray and arrogance in the military and government responses."