The Great Bridge

This book, The Great Bridge, has been my filler-book: something to read when I have been waiting for the library choices to arrive. Lise bought this book for me last Christmas and I read it in intermittent spurts throghout the year. I found it very interesting but do not believe most people would want to read the entire 676 pages; particularly if they have to go to work now and then!


David McCullough, “The Great Bridge” (The Epic Story of the Building of th Brooklyn Bridge), Simon & Schuster Paperbacks., 1972, 636 Pages

The Great Bridge characters include John Roebling, the great designer of suspension bridges; his son Washington, one of the heroes of Gettysburg who assumed responsibility for the Brooklyn bridge when his father died; Washington's wife Emily, who became the critical contact after Washington was disabled from the “bends” resulting from his long exposure while fighting a fire in one of the bridge's caissons. The “bends” (nitrogen in the blood) was not properly understood until after the bridge was completed. Many workers were disabled (some died) from the effects. Boss Tweed and others like him are also part of the story with the result that large quantities of defective wire were incorporated into the bridge.

I have walked across the Brooklyn bridge but will have to do it again as it will be a much different experience after reading this book. This bridge took 14 years to build, beginning in 1869, and remains an engineering still-functioning marvel yet today.
Note: there is a long section of the book describing the death of John Roebling from tetanus. A very frightening way to die.