THE RISING

One of the nation’s most successful real estate magnates details what it took to rebuild and revitalize the 9/11 site.

As he recounts, Silverstein had secured a 99-year lease on the Twin Towers less than two months before 9/11. In this first-person account of his business success and navigation of the bureaucratic maze known as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the author explains how he used his knowledge, authority, and acumen to follow through on his nearly instantaneous decision to rebuild and revitalize the site and properly memorialize those murdered in the atrocity. In addition to amply demonstrating his entrepreneurial and political adroitness, Silverstein displays a talent for making the complex and high-stakes game of New York City commercial real estate—and the associated legal and insurance wrangling that 9/11 made even more difficult—surprisingly interesting. His seemingly good and decent nature shines through his prose, as does considerable wisdom gleaned from a wildly successful career that many times looked as if it would plunge beyond the precipice—but was bolstered by loyal friends, associates, and, most of all, his devoted and tough-as-nails wife, Klara. Silverstein’s poignant and heartfelt description of what was lost—and what endured—in the wake of 9/11, including the anguished resolve to keep moving forward and weighing whether to rebuild or consecrate the entire site as hallowed ground, will resonate with anyone who experienced that tumultuous period. “The precise details are buried deep in my mind,” he writes. “Even decades later they are apparently too painful to relive fully.” At the same time, the author provides a deeper perspective and understanding to younger readers who did not experience it. Throughout, Silverstein writes with panache, wit, and grace, and his is a story worth savoring.

A compelling personal account of a uniquely American comeback.