‘The Boston Marathon Bombing’ to feature AP reporters’ stories behind the story

Originally posted on AP.org

The Associated Press announces the publication this week of “The Boston Marathon Bombing: The Long Run From Terror to Revival.”

The new AP Edition, published in partnership with Mango Media, goes beyond the blasts that killed three people and injured more than 260, the manhunt that shut down Boston and the closely watched trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The book offers the stories behind the story, as related by the AP reporters and photographers who have provided comprehensive coverage.

When two pressure-cooker bombs packed with shrapnel exploded near the finish line on April 15, 2013, AP photographer Charlie Krupa broke out of a locked-down press room in order to cover the chaos on Boylston Street:

"EMTs. Firefighters. Everybody was triaging all these people in a cluster," he said. Medical attendants and volunteers worked frantically, using their own belts and shoelaces as tourniquets. "They were attending to people, getting them on stretchers and getting them off Boylston Street. It was like watching ants. Everyone knew what job they had to do." Something else registered through his lens: Although the panicked were peeling away in every direction, a quarter of the crowd was running toward the blast sites to help.

AP Legal Affairs Writer Denise Lavoie, who covered Tsarnaev’s trial and sentencing, was struck by the intensity of the survivors’ testimony in court:

“I knew these people had suffered terribly, but I didn’t know how bad it was until I heard them describe in their own words what they went through,” Lavoie said. “I was stunned by their composure on the witness stand. I don’t know if I could have kept it together as well as they did.”

Reporter Bridget Murphy and Krupa spent many hours at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital watching amputees get ready for their first prosthetic limbs:

“I felt like they were giving us a gift by letting us be there while they were vulnerable," Murphy said. "A lot of them were very buoyant at the beginning. But as time went on and they were confronted with the reality of what their lives would be like from here on out, a lot of them got frustrated."

“The Boston Marathon Bombing” will be available as an e-book and in a paperback edition.

The book draws on AP’s extensive reporting and rich photo archive, capturing not only the horror and confusion, but also the selfless actions of marathoners, spectators and first responders who rushed to assist the victims.

The volume is a testament to the strength of the people of Boston and how they overcame tragedy with an enduring belief in the American spirit.

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Contact
Paul Colford
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-1895
pcolford@ap.org