Audiobook28 hours
Engineering America: The Life and Times of John A. Roebling
Written by Richard Haw
Narrated by Rick Adamson
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
John Roebling was one of the nineteenth century's most brilliant engineers, ingenious inventors, successful manufacturers, and fascinating personalities. Raised in a German backwater amid the war-torn chaos of the Napoleonic Wars, he immigrated to the US in 1831, where he became wealthy and acclaimed, eventually receiving a carte-blanche contract to build one of the nineteenth century's most stupendous and daring works of engineering: a gigantic suspension bridge to span the East River between New York and Brooklyn. In between, he thought, wrote, and worked tirelessly. He dug canals and surveyed railroads; he planned communities and founded new industries.
Like his finest creations, Roebling was held together by the delicate balance of countervailing forces. On the surface, his life was exemplary and his accomplishments legion. As an immigrant and employer, he was respected throughout the world. As an engineer, his works profoundly altered the physical landscape of America.
Roebling's engineering feats are well known, but the man himself is not; for alongside the drama of large scale construction lies an equally rich drama of intellectual and social development and crisis, one that mirrored and reflected the great forces, trials, and failures of nineteenth century America.
Like his finest creations, Roebling was held together by the delicate balance of countervailing forces. On the surface, his life was exemplary and his accomplishments legion. As an immigrant and employer, he was respected throughout the world. As an engineer, his works profoundly altered the physical landscape of America.
Roebling's engineering feats are well known, but the man himself is not; for alongside the drama of large scale construction lies an equally rich drama of intellectual and social development and crisis, one that mirrored and reflected the great forces, trials, and failures of nineteenth century America.
Related to Engineering America
Related audiobooks
Mayflower Lives: Pilgrims in a New World and the Early American Experience Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dictionary Wars: The American Fight Over the English Language Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master of the Prado Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera: An Insider's History of the Florida-Alabama Coast Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Empty Places: A Journey Through Blank Spots on the American Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Building America: The Life of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Alice Behind Wonderland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Migrant Mother: How a Photograph Defined the Great Depression Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Lost Pilots: The Spectacular Rise and Scandalous Fall of Aviation's Golden Couple Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEli Whitney: The Life and Legacy of the American Inventor Whose Cotton Gin Transformed the Antebellum South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Weird and Mysterious United States: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena across America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Houseguest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peter the Great Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica's Youngest Ambassador: The Cold War Story of Samantha Smith's Lasting Message of Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlorida Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The King and the Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh: The Secret Partners Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Perfect Culture: The Search for Paradise from a Monty Python Perspective Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Science & Mathematics For You
Salt: A World History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinking in Systems: A Primer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cosmos: A Personal Voyage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiolab: Journey Through The Human Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Engineering America
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
1 rating0 reviews