Dr Neria is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology at the Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Columbia University and Associate Director of Trauma Studies and Services at The New York State Psychiatric Institute. Date of birth: July 9 1952. Raz Gross, MD, MPH received his M.D. degree from Tel Aviv University. After training in medicine and residency in psychiatry, Dr Gross moved to New York where he completed a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatric Epidemiology at Columbia University, and also received his Masters in Public Health degree. Dr Gross is currently an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry at Columbia. He is involved in studies of workers who participated in the clean-up and recovery effort at ground zero after September 11, and of the mental health consequences of 9/11 on primary care patients in Northern Manhattan. Dr Gross is also a member of the core research team conducting a web-based survey on the psychological effects of losing a loved one on 9/11. His other areas of research include studies examining the relationship between psychiatric and medical conditions; prenatal and early life risk factors for major psychiatric disorders; and clinical trials. Randall Marshal is Director of Trauma Studies and Services, New York State Psychiatric Institute; Associate Director, Anxiety Disorders Clinic, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Ezra Susser is Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and Head of the Department of Epidemiology of Brain Disorders at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Review of the hardback: 'This is a great and exciting book; a volume filled with stories of endeavour, achievement, appraisal and learning; stories of heroism, challenge and hope. It will become a handbook for all who would research the impact of disaster and terrorism on mental health and well-being.' Beverley Raphael, from the Foreword

• Foreword; Part I. Introduction: 1. Mental health in the aftermath of terrorist attacks: making sense of mass casualty trauma; Part II. The Psychological Aftermath of 9/11: 2. Preface; 3. Posttraumatic stress symptoms in the general population after disaster: implications for public health; 4. Coping with a national trauma: A nationwide longitudinal study of responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11th; 5. An epidemiological response to disasters: the New York City Board of Education's Post 9/11 Needs Assessment; 6. Historical perspective and future directions in research on psychiatric consequences of terrorism and other disasters; 7. Capturing the impact of large-scale events through epidemiological research: challenges and obstacles; 8. Mental health research in the aftermath of disasters: using the right methods to ask the right questions; Part III. Reducing the Burden: Community Response and Community Recovery: 9. Community and ecological approaches to understanding and alleviating postdisaster distress (Introduction to section); 10. What is collective recovery?; 11. Rebuilding communities post disaster in New York; 12. Journalism and the public during catastrophes; 13. Effective leadership in extreme crisis; 14. Guiding community intervention following terrorist attack; Part IV. Outreach and Intervention in the Wake of Terrorist Attacks: 15. Science for the community after 9/11; Part IV.i. New York Area: 16. The psychological aftermath of 9/11 attacks in primary care; 17. Project Liberty: responding to mental health needs after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks; 18. The Mental Health Association of New York City; 19. The New York Consortium for Effective Trauma Treatment; 20. First responders: FDNY and Con Edison; 21. The World Trade Center Worker/Volunteer Mental Health Screening Program; 22. Child and adolescent trauma treatments and services after September 11: implementing evidence-based practices into complex child-serving systems; 23. Relationally and developmentally focused interventions with young children and their caregivers in the wake of terrorism and other violent experiences; Part IV.ii. Washington DC: 24. The mental health response to the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon; 25. Learning lessons from the early intervention response at the Pentagon (commentary); Part IV.iii. Prolonged-Exposure Treatment as a Core Resource for Clinicians in the Community: Dissemination of Trauma Knowledge Post Disaster: 26. Psychological treatments for PTSD: an Overview; 27. Dissemination of prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD: successes and challenges; 28. Training therapists to practice evidence-based psychotherapy after 9/11; Part V. Disasters and Mental Health: Perspectives on Response and Preparedness: 29. The Epidemiology of 9-11: technological advances and conceptual conundrums; 30. Searching for points of convergence: a commentary on prior research on disasters and some community programs initiated in response to September 11, 2001; 31. What mental health professionals should and shouldn't do; 32. Coping with the threat of terrorism; 33. Preparedness and future directions; 34. Lessons learned from 9/11: the boundaries of a mental health approach to mass casualty events; 35. Post-disaster research: lessons learned from 9/11 and future directions.