The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge,   ISBN:9780743217378

Customer Rating: 

I am happy. I received what I ordered. I received it faster than other book sellers send orders. However, I still wished it had arrived a few days quicker.

Customer Rating: 

I DID NOT KNOW THAT THIS VENDOR WENT THROUGH GARBAGE BINS FOR HIS MERCHANDISE.THE BOOK SENT TO ME DID NOT HAVE THE SAME COVER AS ADVERTISED.THE BOOK WAS YELLOW WITH AGE AND HAD WRITING THROUGH OUT.ALSO,IT WAS MISSING SOME PAGES.HAD I HAD A CHANCE TO PERUSE THE BOOK I WOULD HAVE SENT IT BACK TO AMAZON.I COULD HAVE PURCHASED THE SAME BOOK LOCALLY FOR LESS MONEY AND NO OUTLANDISH SHIPPING CHARGES.I GUESS YOU CAN'T RELL A BOOK BY ITS COVER.I AM DISAPPOINTED IB AMAZON.THE GREAT BRIDGE ENDED UP BEING THE GREAT RIP-OFF.

Customer Rating: 

I know it's been over 35 years since this book has been written, but that fact is irrelevant insofar as this book is concerned. I found this book to be so engrossing. I felt like I was living during this time period while reading, and the bridge is just now being built. I was transfixed by both of the Roebling men and wish they were still alive.

I am headed to New York to walk this bridge. To know what is below the water, and has been for over a hundred years, and to know so very many details about the building of this bridge and the men who built it, endears it completely to me.

Not only am I headed to NYC for a bridge trip, but I'm buying all of the David McCullough books I do not already own.

Customer Rating: 

McCullough sure knows how to write popular histories. Reading TGB is like watching the finest Ken Burns documentary or episode of The American Experience. Coincidence? Hmmmmm..... TGB is a feast for history buffs, technology buffs, and NYC buffs. As I am all of the above, I loved this book. A wonderful read.

Customer Rating: 

The Great Bridge is highly interesting, excellently written, and easy to read story of the engineers, politicians, and workers who willingly sacrificed their health and well-being to design and construct the Brooklyn Bridge as an American Icon.

At the time the bridge was built, the danger associated with those who worked inside the pressurized foundation caissons caused an unreconized, debilitating health hazard they called "bends" (because those who experienced the bends walked around bent over.)

The effects of the bends on key people and the unscrupolist politicians of New York and Brooklyn have a strong influence on how the bridge evolves over the 14 years it took to build the bridge.

In all respects, The Great Bridge, which opened in 1883, is a Great Book.