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Overview
"It so happens that the work which is likely to be our most durable monument, and to convey some knowledge of us to the most remote posterity, is a work of bare utility; not a shrine, not a fortress, but a bridge."
So wrote one architectural critic of the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the grandest and most eloquent monuments to the American spirit that our country has produced. Its magnificent site, breathtaking span, cutting-edge technology, and sheer beauty have made it the subject of poems, paintings, photographs, novels, plays, and movies.
Beneath the Brooklyn Bridge's triumphant arches lie astonishing tales of death, deception, genius, and daring. Over the fourteen-year course of its construction, there were many deaths, including that of John A. Roebling, designer and chief engineer; an underwater fire; and even fraud.
Finally, though, the bridge was finished, and as part of the opening day festivities, the president, and two mayors crossed it.
In this stunning visual history, Lynn Curlee tells the fascinating story of the history and construction of the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
Describes the planning, construction, and history of the Brooklyn Bridge, celebrated as one of the greatest landmarks and grandest sights of New York City.
Synopsis
"It so happens that the work which is likely to be our most durable monument, and to convey some knowledge of us to the most remote posterity, is a work of bare utility; not a shrine, not a fortress, but a bridge."
So wrote one architectural critic of the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the grandest and most eloquent monuments to the American spirit that our country has produced. Its magnificent site, breathtaking span, cutting-edge technology, and sheer beauty have made it the subject of poems, paintings, photographs, novels, plays, and movies.
Beneath the Brooklyn Bridge's triumphant arches lie astonishing tales of death, deception, genius, and daring. Over the fourteen-year course of its construction, there were many deaths, including that of John A. Roebling, designer and chief engineer; an underwater fire; and even fraud.
Finally, though, the bridge was finished, and as part of the opening day festivities, the president, and two mayors crossed it.
In this stunning visual history, Lynn Curlee tells the fascinating story of the history and construction of the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
Children's Literature
When the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, its stone towers were the most massive structures on the continent, its cables and deck were among the first constructions of a metal called "steel" and its span was the longest of any bridge in the world. It was called a true "eighth Wonder of the World." Curlee brings the same concise text and lively portrayal of the people and problems involved that he used so effectively in Liberty (Atheneum). His unfussy acrylic paintings seem based on archival photographs and have an engineer's love of the precise line and depiction of the inner workings of the project. The genius behind the bridge was John A. Roebling, whose son Washington carried on after Roebling lost his life to a gangrenous foot. The story is not without disasters, deaths and even a final scare when a week after the bridge opened, someone cried that it was falling and the resulting stampede crushed a dozen people. Curlee's eye for detail, his timely diagrams, cross-sections and maps (which come along just as the reader wants them), and the ending pictures of the bridge from several cross-sectioned perspectives show the reader how marvelous this construction was and is. As one architect pointed out, this bridge is likely to be our most durable monument to posterity and "it is a work of bare utility; not a shrine, not a fortress, not a palace, but a bridge." 2001, Atheneum, $18.00. Ages 8 to 12. Reviewer: Susan Hepler