Great Bridge
The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
First published in 1972, The Great Bridge is the classic account of one of the greatest engineering feats of all time -- the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.
This monumental audiobook which presents extended unabridged passages from the book brings back a heroic vision of the America we once had. It is the enthralling story of one of the greatest events during the Age of Optimism -- a period when Americans were convinced that all great things were possible.
In the years around 1870, the concept of building a great bridge to span the East River between the cities of Manhattan and Brooklyn required a vision and determination comparable to that which went into the building of the pyramids. Throughout the fourteen years of the bridge's construction, the odds against its successful completion seemed staggering. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives were lost, political empires fell, and surges of public emotion constantly threatened the project. But this is not merely the saga of an engineering miracle: it is a sweeping narrative of the heroes and rascals who had a hand in either constructing or obstructing this great enterprise.
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- Simon & Schuster Audio |
- ISBN 9780743539890 |
- July 2004
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Praise
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Chapter 1
The Plan
The shapes arise!
Walt Whitman
They Met at his request on at least six different occasions, beginning in February 1869. With everyone present, there were just nine in all -- the seven distinguished consultants he had selected; his oldest son, Colonel Washington Roebling, who kept the minutes; and himself, the intense, enigmatic John Augustus Roebling, wealthy wire rope manufacturer of Trenton, New Jersey, and builder of unprecedented suspension bridges.
They met at the Brooklyn Gas Light Company on Fulton Street, where the new Bridge Company had been conducting its...
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