Built to Last: Building America's Amazing Bridges, Dams, Tunnels, and Skyscrapers

Starred Review. Grade 5-10–Sullivan pays tribute to several of the architectural masterpieces that have enabled Americans to travel better, faster, and farther. Concentrating on bridges, tunnels, dams, and skyscrapers, he begins his overview in the 18th century with the Erie Canal and ends with construction of City Tunnel No. 3 in New York, started in 1970 and expected to be finished in 2020. Projects are grouped by period and each section is introduced with a discussion of the culture of the time and issues of interest. The author pays homage to the people who designed, built, and completed each engineering marvel, including the Transcontinental Railroad, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch, Cascade Tunnel, and the Sears Tower. Photographs, artist renderings, and a few highlighted facts (location, cost, size, etc.) accompany each discussion. Illustrated spreads requiring readers to hold the book vertically emphasize the size of these wonders. Students will enjoy both the pictures and Sullivans anecdotal accounts. The authors excitement about these building projects and creative design is sure to be contagious. A masterful job.–Delia Carruthers, Sunset Ridge Middle School, West Jordan, UT
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Gr. 5-8. "Engineers and architects are problem solvers," writes Sullivan in the introduction to this welcome survey of American building--from the Erie Canal to Boston's current "Big Dig." Chronological chapters describe the historical forces that helped drive each project as well as the specific technological feats linked to each pioneering structure. Numerous fact boxes offer more contextual details on subjects such as the impact of electric elevators and the working conditions (including salary and even a typical lunchtime meal) for builders of skyscrapers, dams, tunnels, and bridges through the decades. The wide selection of captivating illustrations includes archival photos and engravings, architectural drawings, and color photos, many of which show the structure printed horizontally across a double-page spread, allowing, with a tilt of the book, a full, majestic view of each project. A list of further readings closes. Sullivan's skillful integration of social and economic history distinguishes this clear, well-designed title, which, like David Macaulay's Building Big (2000), will encourage children to marvel at the skill, labor, and wild inspiration required to lift large-scale projects from blueprints into the three-dimensional world. Gillian Engberg
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