Oregon Loves New York: A Story of American Unity After 9/11

Americans like a quiet life and usually they get it, there is often something moderate about our cultural sensitivities that don’t care much for moments of historical melodrama. They kind of massive moments of change and happenstance that come at you with a rush and leave behind a feeling of shocked uncertainty. But, every so often once such a moment is forced upon us, an instance when this fiercely divided country of 300 million has no choice but to collectively take stock and come together.  Twenty years ago on September 11th, at the start of a typical quiet morning in New York City, our nation and its global place in the world changed forever.
Despite all the time we have placed between this day and that one, we have never really managed to find an effective way to move beyond it, it simply remains the moment that silenced an entire age. Oregon Loves New York: A Story of American Unity After 9/11 by Sally Ruth Bourrie is an uplifting story of how many Americans tried in the aftermath of this unprecedented day in New York to push their community forward.

Just three weeks after the terrorist attacks, when the world was still afraid to get out of their homes much less on an airplane, One thousand Oregonians took sixty-two flights to boost the tanking New York economy. What they found were fellow Americans who needed more than their money, they needed their hearts. The Flight for Freedom was a little-known story, which this reviewer hopes this excellent new book will change as it showcases something so profoundly American. About a grouping of people with little connection to New York, sensing that America needed to pull together and help lift up the shaken big apple.

This engrossing book is not only a detailed study of the state of Oregon and its people; it’s also the rare kind of history book that tackles a subject from a different vantage point. The focus isn’t on the attacks, rather on the effects they had on the confidence of the national identity. It was the rarest of moments when all Americans managed to share in collective sorrow and these Flights of Freedom were just one of numerous examples of Americans placing unity above self-interest.

This is truly a heartfelt and compelling piece of nonfiction. It can’t fail to stir feelings of patriotism in the minds of many and to provide a silver lining for a moment of national tragedy that in many ways defined a generation. Told in a lively and uplifting spirit. This touching book is the right mix of gorgeous and haunting, soulful and triumphant.