The Great Bridge

David McCullough's history follows the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, at the time the longest suspension bridge in the world, across the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The project began around 1870, in the heyday of Boss Tweed, and many expected it to fail through technical problems or political corruption. Over fourteen years of construction, bodies were crushed and lives were lost, political empires fell and public feeling repeatedly turned against the work. It covers the designer John A. Roebling and his son Washington, though the drama centers on Washington, the stricken chief engineer, and his wife Emily Warren Roebling. The book won two awards in 1973 and inspired the 1981 Ken Burns documentary Brooklyn Bridge, which McCullough narrated.

Slack engineering vice president Michael Lopp called it a fascinating account of the days when bridges were still in beta.