The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
By Gay Talese
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About this ebook
The Verrazano Narrows Bridge, linking the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island, is an engineering marvel. At 13,700 feet, it is the longest suspension bridge in the United States and the sixth longest in the world. But the sheer size of the bridge is only one part of its complicated, fascinating history.
Renowned journalist Gay Talese chronicled the human drama the bridge's completion: from the construction workers high on the beams to the backroom dealing that displaced whole neighborhoods to make way for the bridge, through to the opening of this marvel of human ingenuity and engineering. Now in a new, beautifully packaged edition featuring dozens of breathtaking photos and architectural drawings, The Bridge remains both a riveting narrative of politics and courage and a demonstration of Talese's consummate reporting and storytelling that will captivate new generations of readers.
Gay Talese
GAY TALESE was credited by Tom Wolfe with the creation of an inventive form of nonfiction writing called “The New Journalism.” He spent his early career at the New York Times, then moved to Esquire, where he produced some of the most celebrated magazine pieces ever written, including “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” which Vanity Fair has called “the greatest literary-nonfiction story of the twentieth century.” His books include The Kingdom and the Power, Honor Thy Father, Thy Neighbor’s Wife, Unto the Sons, and The Voyeur’s Motel. Born in Ocean City, New Jersey, in 1932, Talese lives with his wife, Nan, in New York City. They have two daughters, Pamela and Catherine.
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Reviews for The Bridge
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A brief, straightforward book describing the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn with Staten Island, during the early sixties. While "The Bridge" explains the basics of bridge design and construction, its principal focus is on the workers involved in its construction, who are portrayed as skillful, daring, hard-working, and hard-drinking. The book, which was apparently adapted from contemporary newspaper pieces, might have explored its subject in more depth. Still, it's more literary than the average column-filler, and I found myself wondering if it might be considered a predecessor of the sort of long-form journalism that would later be practiced by writers like Tracy Kidder, David Halberstam, and Susan Orlean. In any case, it's a good enough read and serves a fair monument to the ironworkers whose considerable bravery and industriousness helped make the Verrazano-Narrows a reality,and whose names we might otherwise never know.