The Red Bandanna

The story of Welles Crowther, whose actions on 9/11 offer a lasting lesson on character, calling, and courage

What would you do in the last hour of your life?

“[A] lovely book . . . Be like Welles Crowther. Take your bandanna, change the world.”
—Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal

"Through one hero of that day, Rinaldi really tells the story of all of them, all those who saved others and couldn't save themselves.”
—Mike Lupica, NY Daily News

Fresh from college, Welles Crowther took a job on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. When the Twin Towers fell, his parents came to accept that he would never come home, but the mystery of his final hours persisted. Eight months later, they learned of several survivors who were led to safety by a stranger. After leading them down, the young man turned around. "I'm going back up," was all he said. Despite the smoke and panic, one of them remembered a single detail clearly: the man was wearing a red bandanna. It was the one Welles's father had given him when he was a boy.

The story of a fearless choice, a crucible of terror and the indomitable spirit to answer it, Tom Rinaldi's The Red Bandanna celebrates the difference one life can make.