Rubble: Unearthing the History of Demolition - Softcover

Byles, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307345289 ISBN 13: 9780307345288

Publisher: Broadway Books, 2006

Synopsis

Ride the Wrecking Ball Through the History of Demolition

Rubble is the first-ever biography of the wrecking trade, a riveting, character-filled narrative of how the black art of demolition grew to become a multi-billion-dollar business, an extreme-spectator sport, and a touchstone for what we value and what we disdain.

Rich with stories of demolition’s quirky impresarios—including Mark Loizeaux, the world-famous engineer of destruction who brought Seattle’s Kingdome to the ground in mere seconds—this account makes firsthand forays to implosion sites and digs extensively into wrecking’s little-known historical record. Told with arresting detail and energy, this tale reveals the scientific, social, economic, and personal reasons for why we unbuild our world.

Named to the “Best of 2005” lists of Time Out New York and The Village Voice

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Byles has written feature articles and critical reviews about architecture, urbanism, and culture for the New York Times, Metropolis, and other publications. He earned his MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Alaska Anchorage and lives in New York City. Visit his website at jeffbyles.com.

From Publishers Weekly

The controlled reduction of buildings to rubble is "the black art of our time," writes Byles. In this colorful thematic history of the demolition trade (a subject he was pursuing, it should be said, before the destruction of the Twin Towers), he rightfully calls Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, "the patron saint of creative destruction." Only in the 1910s did the simple need to topple skyscrapers emerge as a fact of urban renewal. Before 1900, demolition was only sporadically used to prevent the spread of fire, and was largely an inefficient matter of pulling buildings down, not exploding or imploding them. Over time, the dangers of wrecking balls led to an increased emphasis on hydraulics and contained explosives. Today, the ostentatious annihilation of gargantuan stadia and casinos draws awestruck throngs. Byles examines this history, looking at the "clear-cutting of entire neighborhoods" in Paris by Baron Haussmann ("who called himself 'artist-demolitionist' "), the "sorry end" of New York's original, monumental Pennsylvania Station (and its impact on the urban preservation movement) and the destruction of the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. With brio, Byles ably and pungently excavates the shadowy crannies of this underappreciated art, summarized by one practitioner as "a little dynamite, judiciously placed." 25 b&w photos.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0307345289
• ISBN 13: 9780307345288
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368