BBC production that's top class

The business of journalism - by its very nature - invariably has a limited shelf-life. There is nothing so dead as yesterday's papers.

However, a momentous event can occasionally inspire writing that does it justice, where words fall over each other to be equal to the task, giving themselves a kind of immortality.

Such an occurrence was the outrage of September 11.

The BBC News team has produced a timely book of incisive and accessible essays to help explain why the terrorist attacks in the US happened. Including contributions from 15 of the BBC's most celebrated and authoritative correspondents, the articles provide a balanced and serious overview of the history, the attack and aftermath.

The writers leave no stone unturned. After a foreword by Richard Sambrook, who explains how BBC News reacted to the story, Stephen Evans presents a reportage piece by the man who was in the World Trade Centre when the first plane struck.

From there we move to an account by George Alagiah, in which he looks at how societies cope with apocalyptic events and gives his impressions of a traumatised US.

This is, without doubt, a balanced book. Veteran reporter Brian Hanrahan's analysis of the resentment that had built up around American foreign policy is a masterpiece - while Gordon Corera's torch shines deep into the murky cave that is Islamic terrorism.

Then, giving a British perspective on the crisis, Andrew Marr examines the leading role that Tony Blair has taken in the coalition. Further on, Jonathan Marcus discusses the limitations of an all-out military answer to this new threat to world order.

There are 15 articles in The Day That Shook The World and each one gives a new slant on the catastrophe. But excellent though this work may be, what none of these writers can tell you is when this war will eventually - if ever - come to an end.

John Phillpott