Originally published in 1987 while the Twin Towers still stood, this book offered the first serious consideration of the planning and design of the World Trade Center. It benefited from interviews with figures still on the scene, and archival documents still available for study. Many of those interviewed, and many of the documents, are gone. But even if they remained available today, it would be impossible now to write this book from the same perspective. Too much has happened here.

This new edition of the book — expanded to include copies of some of the documents upon which the text was based — is offered as a memory of the World Trade Center as it once was.