Jim Dwyer

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Jim Dwyer (born March 4, 1957 in New York City) is an American journalist who is a reporter and columnist with "The New York Times". A native New Yorker, Dwyer wrote columns for "New York Newsday" and the "New York Daily News" before joining the "Times". He earned a bachelor’s degree in general science from Fordham University in 1979 and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1980. He also developed a 50 kW photovoltaic panel system for his cooperative apartment building in Manhattan, the first of its kind in New York City.

Career Highlights

In 1992, Dwyer was a member of a team at "Newsday" that won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting, and in 1995, as a columnist with "Newsday", he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

"102 Minutes"

Dwyer is the author or co-author of four books. His latest, "102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers", co-written with Kevin Flynn, an editor at The Times, was a 2005 National Book Award finalist. The book chronicled the 102 minutes that the towers at the trade center stood after the attacks of Sept. 11 began. The sources included interviews with survivors, tapes of police and fire operations, 911 calls, and other material obtained under freedom of information requests including 20,000 pages of tape transcripts, oral histories, and other documents.

"Actual Innocence" and "Two Seconds Under the World"

Dwyer is also the co-author of "Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted", which examined the causes of wrongful convictions. He is co-author of "Two Seconds Under the World", an account of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that explored the early signs of fundamentalist terrorism, and poor coordination by investigating agencies, including the FBI.

"Subway Lives"

He is the author of "Subway Lives: 24 Hours in the Life of the New York Subways", a work that follows the lives of six New Yorkers and is set on the day the last graffiti-covered train was in service. Much of the material for the book came from his job as the subway columnist from 1986 to 1989 for "New York Newsday".

"Solar Panels"

Dwyer developed a 50 kW photovoltaic system at his home in Manhattan, a 217-unit cooperative apartment building. The project, which took nearly four years, is believed to be the first of its kind at a private cooperative in the city. Most of the cost was paid for with state incentives and tax credits; the balance was financed for 10 years with a low-interest loan that will be repaid for roughly the same amount that the building would have paid for commercial electricity. The panels are guaranteed for 25 years. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/nyregion/23about.html (Solar) Power to the People Is Not So Easily Achieved - New York Times ] ]

Bibliography

* "Subway Lives: 24 Hours in the Life of the New York Subways." New York: Crown, 1991.
* (With Dee Murphy, David Kocieniewski and Peg Tyre) "Two Seconds Under the World." New York: Crown, 1994.
* (With Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck) "Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted." New York: Doubleday, 2000.
* (With Kevin Flynn) "102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers."

References