SOURCE: Lynch, Frederick R. “Charting Culture of Manhattan Firehouse Tested by September 11.” Washington Times (8 September 2002): B8.

In the following review, Lynch lauds David Halberstam's Firehouse as a remarkable work that outlines the importance of close-knit relationships in the workplace.

New York City firefighters became national heroes last September when 343 of them died trying to help others escape the doomed twin towers of the World Trade Center. However, behind all the adulation—FDNY hats and T-shirts have become popular badges of patriotism, for instance—is a compelling mystique. Who are these guys? Who takes up a profession premised upon risking your life to save strangers and their property?

“‘People think they know what we do, but they don't really know what we do,’” a veteran firefighter tells David Halberstam in Firehouse, a remarkable study of a tightly knit workplace world and the impact of September 11 upon it. Anyone who...