Visiting friend - where to go? He likes war history & sports
Posted by D
Visiting friend - where to go? He likes war history & sports September 15, 2011 08:08AM |
Re: Visiting friend - where to go? He likes war history & sports September 15, 2011 01:50PM |
Re: Visiting friend - where to go? He likes war history & sports September 15, 2011 02:04PM |
Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 479 |
My husband loves history as do I. He has read a lot about Lowell Thomas which led us to visiting the Explorer's Club while we were there in June. We would have loved to have gone to a lecture but had plans that night. Instead we enjoyed a self tour before we spent the day up the street at Central Park and then the Metropolitan Museum (full of history) and where you can view whole rooms of French furniture.
[www.explorers.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]
[www.metmuseum.org]{89D08D20-9E54-473F-A986-09E98BFE8DD7}
[www.explorers.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]
[www.metmuseum.org]{89D08D20-9E54-473F-A986-09E98BFE8DD7}
Re: Visiting friend - where to go? He likes war history & sports September 16, 2011 06:36AM |
Admin Registered: 19 years ago Posts: 4,041 |
The Brooklyn Bridge has a bit of History, Reading The Great Bridge. Inspiring.
[www.amazon.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]
It is hard for me to be objective about this book. First off, I am a great admirer of David McCullough's histories. Second, I have published two novels which are set in New York during the mid-19th Century. But what probably makes it hardest for me to be objective is that I have walked over that bridge for my own personal pleasure so many times over the decades that I consider it an old friend. It's my bridge.
Having said all that, I can say that Mr. McCullough has written a history that is not only about a bridge and its builders, which are fascinating subjects in their own right, but it is also about what New Yorkers were thinking back then. This was still a horizontal world; the era of early skyscrapers was a few decades away. Because of this and the rapid growth in population after the Civil War, Manhattan was mostrously choked by block after block of four- and five-story tenements, warehouses and factories. The need for a reliable means to get to the vast open spaces of Brooklyn was urgent. Ironically, however, it wasn't the horizontal--the length of the bridge--which stunned the witnesses to the construction. Instead they marvelled at the height of the towers and the height of the roadway over the East River.
Not as ironic, however, were the people who didn't marvel at the bridge's beauty and the strength of its construction. They were too busy licking their lips, wringing their hands and wondering how much of the bridge's budget would make its way into their wallets. The elements of corruption, then as now, always lurked near a great public work in New York. McCullough covers this tainted side just as carefully as he reports on the glory of the growth of the bridge. Heroes (the Roeblings) and villains (Tweed & Co.) abound, while New York's most beautiful and efficient structure comes to life.
I've been as honest as possible. I recommend this book highly to anyone with an interest in engineering, New York history, or just a good story with great characters.
Rocco Dormarunno
Instructor, College of New Rochelle
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2011 06:58AM by askanewyorker.
[www.amazon.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]
It is hard for me to be objective about this book. First off, I am a great admirer of David McCullough's histories. Second, I have published two novels which are set in New York during the mid-19th Century. But what probably makes it hardest for me to be objective is that I have walked over that bridge for my own personal pleasure so many times over the decades that I consider it an old friend. It's my bridge.
Having said all that, I can say that Mr. McCullough has written a history that is not only about a bridge and its builders, which are fascinating subjects in their own right, but it is also about what New Yorkers were thinking back then. This was still a horizontal world; the era of early skyscrapers was a few decades away. Because of this and the rapid growth in population after the Civil War, Manhattan was mostrously choked by block after block of four- and five-story tenements, warehouses and factories. The need for a reliable means to get to the vast open spaces of Brooklyn was urgent. Ironically, however, it wasn't the horizontal--the length of the bridge--which stunned the witnesses to the construction. Instead they marvelled at the height of the towers and the height of the roadway over the East River.
Not as ironic, however, were the people who didn't marvel at the bridge's beauty and the strength of its construction. They were too busy licking their lips, wringing their hands and wondering how much of the bridge's budget would make its way into their wallets. The elements of corruption, then as now, always lurked near a great public work in New York. McCullough covers this tainted side just as carefully as he reports on the glory of the growth of the bridge. Heroes (the Roeblings) and villains (Tweed & Co.) abound, while New York's most beautiful and efficient structure comes to life.
I've been as honest as possible. I recommend this book highly to anyone with an interest in engineering, New York history, or just a good story with great characters.
Rocco Dormarunno
Instructor, College of New Rochelle
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2011 06:58AM by askanewyorker.
Online Users
Guests:
5