We Should Have Rebuilt the Twin Towers

In the 21 years since their destruction on 9/11, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center have posthumously become such powerful symbols of Americanism that it is easy to forget how unpopular they were during their three-decade lifespan.

The towers were criticized from the start for their monotonous blockiness, derided as “filing cabinets” and “the boxes that the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building came in.” Indoors, t …