Name: The Great Bridge
ISBN: 9780743217378

David McCullough

The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge

The Great Bridge

Building a bridge seemed such a clean, heroic thing for a man to do.

Jeni Enjaian

A review from my old blog...

I love every book that I read of David McCullough. He crafts history in such a way that makes me want to read about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge or the Panama Canal. This book focused on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

McCullough's language creates such vivid pictures that I could easily imagine how it felt and what it looked like when I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge six years ago.

Even though I did not completely understand the technical details of the sinking of the caissons and other engineering details I found myself completely fascinated by the details and taking a deep gasp of breath as McCullough described a fire underwater in the caisson that nearly derailed the entire project.

At the same time I must warn that this book is not for the faint of heart. At 562 pages it makes for a formidable challenge for even the avid reader.

I definitely recommend this book for the lover of history and good reading, with the above caveat.

The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of Truman evaluates the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge as the greatest engineering triumph of its time, citing the pivotal contributions of chief engineer Washington Roebling and the technical problems and political corruption that challenged the project.

The Great Bridge The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge