Richards, Eugene. Stepping Through the Ashes by Eugene Richards.

Aperture, 2002. 1st printing. [Aftermath of 9/11 at the World Trade Center, poignant documentary. Born in 1944 and a long-term member of Magnum, Richards has published many documentary photo books, of which Stepping Through the Ashes was his ninth. ] 192 pages. Fine with near fine protected dust jacket with price sticker on verso. (Note: image of dust jacket includes reflections.) Summary:

Stepping Through the Ashes (published by Aperture in 2002) is a powerful, meditative photographic elegy by award-winning photojournalist Eugene Richards, created in collaboration with writer and documentary producer Janine Altongy. Rather than capturing the immediate, highly broadcasted trauma of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the book focuses on the quiet, evolving aftermath in New York City and the deeply personal ways people began to process their grief.

Core Themes & Structure

1. A Visual Focus on Aftermath and Reflection

Because Richards was not in Manhattan on the day of the attacks, the book intentionally avoids sensationalist or explicitly chaotic imagery of the towers falling. Instead, his stark black-and-white cityscapes and portraits capture the heavy stillness, confusion, and monumental scale of the destruction at Ground Zero. His photographs use light and shadow to transform the debris—mountains of gnarled metal, dust-covered streets, and solitary rescue workers—into an ethereal, somber space for mourning and self-examination.

2. Oral Histories of Survivors and Mourners

The visual narrative is intimately interwoven with testimonies compiled by Janine Altongy. The book features oral histories from a diverse group of people directly impacted by the tragedy, including first responders navigating the recovery efforts, grieving family members searching for or mourning the missing, and local citizens dealing with the sudden, massive loss.

3. Broadening the Scope of Human Tragedy

Richards approaches Ground Zero not just as a local crime scene or a tourist destination, but as a universal focal point for remembering. The book connects the specific trauma of 9/11 to broader historical reflections on violence against civilians, drawing psychological parallels to historical tragedies like the London Blitz, Dresden, or Sarajevo, and exploring how a country copes with a sudden loss of family structures and cultural safety.

Stepping Through the Ashes is widely regarded as one of the most empathetic and respectful photographic records of post-9/11 New York. By pairing stark, dignified imagery with raw human testimony, Richards and Altongy avoid exploitation, offering instead a quiet space for collective grief and psychological processing.