This book is a powerful collection of first-person stories told by female firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, and others who responded to the events of September 11 and its aftermath. Women at Ground Zero provides a unique perspective on the events of that terrible day through the eyes of women rescuers who risked their lives to save others. Through their heartbreaking and inspiring stories, the voices of female rescue workers and their contributions at Ground Zero are finally heard. In this moving, disturbing, and uplifting collection of interviews and photos, Northern California authors Susan Hagen and Mary Carouba showcase female firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, and Port Authority personnel...who were on the scene that day. In the manner of Studs Terkel, the authors wisely let their 30 subjects talk uninterrupted and at length. The power is in the minute-by-minute graphic accounts of these women doing their jobs. --San Jose Mercury News These women divulge. They summon details...the women's capacity for wonder and doubt, and their willingness to express it, fills the book. --The Washington Post Aptly subtitled 'Stories of Courage and Compassion,' this exceptional book goes a long way to fill a major gap in the coverage of the events of that fateful Tuesday and the days of horror and heroism that followed. --New York Daily News Susan Hagen is an award-winning writer whose career began in the 1970s as a newspaper reporter in Northern CA. Her comprehensive coverage of the health care industry led to a series of positions in hospital communications, including editor of employee publications for Kaiser Permanente, the country's leading integrated health plan. Since 1988, Hagen has been retained as an organizational journalist by more than 100 corporations and nonprofit agencies across the country. In 1994, Hagen became a firefighter and emergency medical technician in Sonoma County, CA where she was an active duty firefighter on September 11. Since half the members of her first firehouse were female, she and her colleagues were acutely aware of the absence of women in media portrayals of rescue workers at the World Trade Center. Hagen combined her knowledge of the fire service with her experience as a writer to conceive of the idea for this book with fellow author, Mary Carouba. She subsequently retired from the fire service in 2003. Inspired by the powerful stories told by the rescue workers who appear in this book, Hagen has created a dynamic womens writing program that provides a safe, supportive environment for beginning and experienced writers to explore the stories of their lives. She also offers wilderness rites of passage programs for women who long to step away from their busy lives and deepen their connection with the natural world. Mary Carouba began her career in 1977 with Delancey Street Foundation, Inc., a worldwide organization committed to changing the world one person at a time. Under the mentorship of founder Mimi H. Silbert, Ph.D., Carouba worked as a counselor, educator, and public speaker. She spent many subsequent years as a social worker in the San Francisco Bay Area, investigating cases of child abuse and elder abuse, neglect, and chemical dependency. Carouba was compelled by the events of September 11 to undertake this book as a way of taking positive action in the aftermath of the tragedy. As one who has worked with many women in the law enforcement community, she was inspired to acknowledge the women who responded to the terrorist attacks after realizing that the media presented few role models for girls in its reporting of the event. In the course of researching and writing this book, Carouba's experience as a social worker created a safe harbor for rescue workers to share their stories and express their emotions. Since retiring from social work, Carouba continues to appear as a public speaker and performance artist, addressing social, cultural, and family issues before a broad spectrum of audiences. While their presentations and performances are designed to educate and entertain, they also allow her to express her commitment to social justice and advocate for positive change.