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Engineering America The Life and Times of John A. Roebling

Haw Richard
Innbundet / 2020 / Engelsk

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780190663902
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
1021 gr
Høyde
165 mm
Bredde
236 mm
Dybde
48 mm
Aldersnivå
U, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
648

Forfatter
Haw Richard

Biografisk notat

Richard Haw is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. He is the author of The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History and Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History.

Engineering America The Life and Times of John A. Roebling

Haw Richard
Innbundet / 2020 / Engelsk
Haw Richard
Innbundet / 2020 / Engelsk
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Richard Haw's Engineering America...succeeds as a remarkable work of primary source scholarship, one that brings Roebling to life in all his human complexity...[with] care and empathy....A great strength of Haw's analysis derives from his engagement with the cultural, social, and economic context of Roebling's life....For those most interested in Roebling's work as a designer/builder of suspension bridges, Engineering America will not disappoint.

Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture

A remarkable work of primary source scholarship

Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture

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. Horace Greeley called him "a model immigrant"; generations later, F. Scott Fitzgerald worked on a script for the movie version of his life. 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. He was a voracious reader, a fervent abolitionist, and an engaged social commentator. His understanding of the natural world however, bordered on the occult and his opinions about medicine are best described as medieval. For a man of science and great self-certainty, he was also remarkably quick to seize on a whole host of fads and foolish trends. Yet Roebling held these strands together. Throughout his life, he believed in the moral application of science and technology, that bridges-along with other great works of connection, the Atlantic Cable, the Transcontinental Railroad-could help bring people together, erase divisions, and heal wounds. Like Walt Whitman, Roebling was deeply committed to the creation of a more perfect union, forged from the raw materials of the continent. John Roebling was a complex, deeply divided yet undoubtedly influential figure, and this biography illuminates not only his works but also the world of nineteenth-century 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.
Les mer
Engineering America narrates how Johann August Röbling, the third child of a provincial German tobacconist, became John A. Roebling, world-renowned American engineer, wealthy manufacturer, and designer of the Brooklyn Bridge and other great engineering feats of nineteenth-century America.
Les mer
Acknowledgments Introduction: "Fitting One's Self for the New World" Part One: Novice (1806-1831) Chapter 1: In Napoleon's Shadow (1806-1824) Chapter 2: Berlin and the Culture of Revolution (1824-1825) Chapter 3: Westphalia: Building Roads, Designing Bridges (1825-1829) Chapter 4: Johann Etzler and the Mühlhausen Emigration Society (1829-1831) Chapter 5: Across the Atlantic (1831) Part Two: Apprentice (1831-1847) Chapter 6: And out to Western Pennsylvania (1831-1832) Chapter 7: Establishing Saxonburg (1832-1837) Chapter 8: Internal Improvements (1838-1841) Chapter 9: Making Wire Rope and the Wire Rope Industry (1840-1848) Chapter 10: Private Life, Public Works (1844-1845) Chapter 11: Rebuilding Pittsburgh: Finishing the Allegheny, Spanning the Monongahela (1845-1846) Chapter 12: Setting the Future (1846-1847) Part Three: Master (1848-69) Chapter 13: Economies of Scale (1848-1852) Chapter 14: Crossing Niagara (1846-48) Chapter 15: Securing Niagara (1852-55) Chapter 16: The Kentucky, Ohio and Allegheny (1856-1860) Chapter 17: And the War Came (1861-1865) Chapter 18: Unfinished Business (1863-1869) Epilogue: "I am my own Judge" Notes Index
Les mer
"Richard Haw's Engineering America...succeeds as a remarkable work of primary source scholarship, one that brings Roebling to life in all his human complexity...[with] care and empathy....A great strength of Haw's analysis derives from his engagement with the cultural, social, and economic context of Roebling's life....For those most interested in Roebling's work as a designer/builder of suspension bridges, Engineering America will not disappoint." -- Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture "A remarkable work of primary source scholarship" -- Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture "Readers have had to wait a century and a half for a definitive biography of America s great engineer, John Roebling; now we have a page-turner in Richard Haw s Engineering America. And, as if a bonus for our patience, we have also in this very readable book an insightful biography of Roebling-era wire suspension bridges, culminating in the masterpieces of Roebling himself. This is a work it was worth waiting for."--Henry Petroski, author of Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America "Like one of John Roebling s bridges, Richard Haw s biography rests on deep foundations of research in Germany and the United States, a knowledge of the complexity of engineering, and an awareness of the social uses and philosophical implications of technology. This definitive work is as grand as its subject is great."--David E. Nye, author of American Technological Sublime "Richard Haw's compelling biography is a portrait of a nineteenth-century titan. German-born John Roebling was a true American visionary, the man who made revolutionary suspension bridges, but more than that too: a scholar, a philosopher, a man driven to extremes by passion and the ceaseless thirst for knowledge. This, at last, is the book the great John Roebling deserves, restoring him to his proper place among the significant men and women who built America and the world."--Erica Wagner, author of Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge "The suspension bridges of John A. Roebling are among the most beautiful of all the engineering works produced in nineteenth-century America; somehow the simple, slender cables hold up a roadway as each bridge spans a broad expanse of water. But to achieve both beauty and simplicity in his bridges, Roebling had to orchestrate a complex mix of natural forces, new materials, politics, and money. In this thoughtful biography, Richard Haw not only traces the complexity of Roebling s bridges but also reveals how each design reflected the complexity of his personality and passions."--W. Bernard Carlson, author of Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age "This lengthy biography of a civil engineer who significantly impacted history should engage anyone interested in inventions and engineering."--Library Journal
Les mer
Selling point: The most comprehensive biography of John Roebling and the first in over 75 years Selling point: Based on immense amount of original archival material that sheds light on many unknown aspects of Roebling's life Selling point: Narrates Roebling's life not just as an engineer, but also the places and times in which he lived
Les mer
Richard Haw is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. He is the author of The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History and Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History.
Les mer
Selling point: The most comprehensive biography of John Roebling and the first in over 75 years Selling point: Based on immense amount of original archival material that sheds light on many unknown aspects of Roebling's life Selling point: Narrates Roebling's life not just as an engineer, but also the places and times in which he lived
Les mer

Relaterte produkter

Richard Haw's Engineering America...succeeds as a remarkable work of primary source scholarship, one that brings Roebling to life in all his human complexity...[with] care and empathy....A great strength of Haw's analysis derives from his engagement with the cultural, social, and economic context of Roebling's life....For those most interested in Roebling's work as a designer/builder of suspension bridges, Engineering America will not disappoint.

Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture

A remarkable work of primary source scholarship

Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture

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. Horace Greeley called him "a model immigrant"; generations later, F. Scott Fitzgerald worked on a script for the movie version of his life. 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. He was a voracious reader, a fervent abolitionist, and an engaged social commentator. His understanding of the natural world however, bordered on the occult and his opinions about medicine are best described as medieval. For a man of science and great self-certainty, he was also remarkably quick to seize on a whole host of fads and foolish trends. Yet Roebling held these strands together. Throughout his life, he believed in the moral application of science and technology, that bridges-along with other great works of connection, the Atlantic Cable, the Transcontinental Railroad-could help bring people together, erase divisions, and heal wounds. Like Walt Whitman, Roebling was deeply committed to the creation of a more perfect union, forged from the raw materials of the continent. John Roebling was a complex, deeply divided yet undoubtedly influential figure, and this biography illuminates not only his works but also the world of nineteenth-century 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.
Les mer
Engineering America narrates how Johann August Röbling, the third child of a provincial German tobacconist, became John A. Roebling, world-renowned American engineer, wealthy manufacturer, and designer of the Brooklyn Bridge and other great engineering feats of nineteenth-century America.
Les mer
Acknowledgments Introduction: "Fitting One's Self for the New World" Part One: Novice (1806-1831) Chapter 1: In Napoleon's Shadow (1806-1824) Chapter 2: Berlin and the Culture of Revolution (1824-1825) Chapter 3: Westphalia: Building Roads, Designing Bridges (1825-1829) Chapter 4: Johann Etzler and the Mühlhausen Emigration Society (1829-1831) Chapter 5: Across the Atlantic (1831) Part Two: Apprentice (1831-1847) Chapter 6: And out to Western Pennsylvania (1831-1832) Chapter 7: Establishing Saxonburg (1832-1837) Chapter 8: Internal Improvements (1838-1841) Chapter 9: Making Wire Rope and the Wire Rope Industry (1840-1848) Chapter 10: Private Life, Public Works (1844-1845) Chapter 11: Rebuilding Pittsburgh: Finishing the Allegheny, Spanning the Monongahela (1845-1846) Chapter 12: Setting the Future (1846-1847) Part Three: Master (1848-69) Chapter 13: Economies of Scale (1848-1852) Chapter 14: Crossing Niagara (1846-48) Chapter 15: Securing Niagara (1852-55) Chapter 16: The Kentucky, Ohio and Allegheny (1856-1860) Chapter 17: And the War Came (1861-1865) Chapter 18: Unfinished Business (1863-1869) Epilogue: "I am my own Judge" Notes Index
Les mer
"Richard Haw's Engineering America...succeeds as a remarkable work of primary source scholarship, one that brings Roebling to life in all his human complexity...[with] care and empathy....A great strength of Haw's analysis derives from his engagement with the cultural, social, and economic context of Roebling's life....For those most interested in Roebling's work as a designer/builder of suspension bridges, Engineering America will not disappoint." -- Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture "A remarkable work of primary source scholarship" -- Donald C. Jackson, Technology and Culture "Readers have had to wait a century and a half for a definitive biography of America s great engineer, John Roebling; now we have a page-turner in Richard Haw s Engineering America. And, as if a bonus for our patience, we have also in this very readable book an insightful biography of Roebling-era wire suspension bridges, culminating in the masterpieces of Roebling himself. This is a work it was worth waiting for."--Henry Petroski, author of Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America "Like one of John Roebling s bridges, Richard Haw s biography rests on deep foundations of research in Germany and the United States, a knowledge of the complexity of engineering, and an awareness of the social uses and philosophical implications of technology. This definitive work is as grand as its subject is great."--David E. Nye, author of American Technological Sublime "Richard Haw's compelling biography is a portrait of a nineteenth-century titan. German-born John Roebling was a true American visionary, the man who made revolutionary suspension bridges, but more than that too: a scholar, a philosopher, a man driven to extremes by passion and the ceaseless thirst for knowledge. This, at last, is the book the great John Roebling deserves, restoring him to his proper place among the significant men and women who built America and the world."--Erica Wagner, author of Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge "The suspension bridges of John A. Roebling are among the most beautiful of all the engineering works produced in nineteenth-century America; somehow the simple, slender cables hold up a roadway as each bridge spans a broad expanse of water. But to achieve both beauty and simplicity in his bridges, Roebling had to orchestrate a complex mix of natural forces, new materials, politics, and money. In this thoughtful biography, Richard Haw not only traces the complexity of Roebling s bridges but also reveals how each design reflected the complexity of his personality and passions."--W. Bernard Carlson, author of Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age "This lengthy biography of a civil engineer who significantly impacted history should engage anyone interested in inventions and engineering."--Library Journal
Les mer
Selling point: The most comprehensive biography of John Roebling and the first in over 75 years Selling point: Based on immense amount of original archival material that sheds light on many unknown aspects of Roebling's life Selling point: Narrates Roebling's life not just as an engineer, but also the places and times in which he lived
Les mer
Richard Haw is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. He is the author of The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History and Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History.
Les mer
Selling point: The most comprehensive biography of John Roebling and the first in over 75 years Selling point: Based on immense amount of original archival material that sheds light on many unknown aspects of Roebling's life Selling point: Narrates Roebling's life not just as an engineer, but also the places and times in which he lived
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780190663902
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
1021 gr
Høyde
165 mm
Bredde
236 mm
Dybde
48 mm
Aldersnivå
U, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
648

Forfatter
Haw Richard

Biografisk notat

Richard Haw is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. He is the author of The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History and Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History.

Relaterte produkter