This is a complex piece of structural engineering that is difficult to understand without a visual. Although the engineering behind the bridge is expressed in layman's terms, I found myself on Google, looking at pictures from the period and technical drawings of "the great caisson" the engineering masterpiece that is the foundation of the bridge. This text provides fascinating insight into Gilded Age politics, engineering know-how, and raw human emotion both dazzling, and painful. The descriptions of the people, places, and events provide a striking image of America at that time, and the audacity of the people involved in such a monumental undertaking. This book will teleport you to Brooklyn in the 1870's. Who knew that the story of a bridge being built could be so fascinating? McCullough's great strength, I believe, is his ability to paint a striking portrait of people and their unique time. This is certainly true of "The Great Bridge". Listening to a story written by him is like sitting down with a wise old man, (I imagine my own Grandfather), saying: "Sit down with me for a while, and I'm going to tell you a story so incredible, you won't believe it's real". I have already listened to "Truman", "The Wright Brothers", and "The Johnstown Flood".
Please note: The Great Bridge (Unabridged) is available for just one credit until June 20, 2012, after which point it will be priced at two credits. Like the engineering marvel it describes, The Great Bridge, republished on the 40th anniversary of its initial publication, has stood the test of time. Without John Roebling's vision, his son Washington's skill and courage, and Washington's wife Emily's dedication, the bridge we know and cherish would never have been built.
The Great Bridge is also the story of a remarkable family, the Roeblings, who conceived and executed the audacious engineering plan at great personal cost. But the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge is not just the saga of an engineering miracle it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time, replete with heroes and rascals who helped either to construct or to exploit the great enterprise. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, notorious political empires fell, and surges of public doubt constantly threatened the project. During 14 years of construction, the odds against success seemed overwhelming.
So daring a concept as spanning the East River to join two great cities required vision and dedication of the kind that went into building Europe's great cathedrals. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible. This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world.
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