One of my favorite books by David McCullough is "The Great Bridge," his story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. I was fascinated by his description of the engineering involved in constructing it. It also caught my interest in that I was born in Brooklyn and traveled across this bridge many times. In addition, McCullough's story of the Robelings---John, Washington and Emily---got me interested in reading more about them. As a Civil War buff, I was surprised to read about Washington's career in that conflict, including a key role in helping to win the Battle of Gettysburg. So you can imagine how lucky I felt when a copy of the 1945 "The Builders of the Bridge : The Story of John Roebling and His Son" by D. B. Steinman passed into my hands at a thrift store where I volunteer. I wasn't even aware this book existed.
I had seen "The Engineer's Wife" listed on the PBS site, but didn't add the novel to my WL as there were so many ahead of me. So I was happy when a copy also came through the thrift store and I immediately pushed it to the top of my books to read. While I did enjoy the story, I felt the author's depiction of a romance between Emily and P.T. Barnum was greatly overdone, as I had read two non-fiction books about the Roeblings. But then the author, Tracy Wood, probably felt it was necessary, as part of her plot, to keep readers interested..This is not the only time she does so. At the end of the book, she states her next book would probably be about Julia Stimson, another woman who is an important historical character. Turns out I had read this book previously and Wood imagined another romance there, which never happened.
If you read this book, I urge you to at least read the Wikipedia pages on these individuals. Not just for the three Roeblings, but also for Julia Stimson. Then you might also find yourself reading the page on John Roebling, Washington and Emily's son. He also had a successful career, and his legacy is the important Archbold Biological Station in Florida. Even better, his own son was the inventor of a vehicle which played an extremely important role in World War II.
My only comment about the historical accuracy of this book regards something the author writes at the opening of Chapter 29. She states the year 1876 had two tragedies: a collapse of a railroad bridge in Ohio and a theater fire in Brooklyn. Americans alive in that year would be surprised at this, as the greatest tragedy occurring that year was the June 25th Battle of the Little Big Horn, where George Custer and the 7th Cavalry met their end and cast a pall over the July 4th celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the United States.
And I'll be posting my copy for the next person who has it WLed.
I had seen "The Engineer's Wife" listed on the PBS site, but didn't add the novel to my WL as there were so many ahead of me. So I was happy when a copy also came through the thrift store and I immediately pushed it to the top of my books to read. While I did enjoy the story, I felt the author's depiction of a romance between Emily and P.T. Barnum was greatly overdone, as I had read two non-fiction books about the Roeblings. But then the author, Tracy Wood, probably felt it was necessary, as part of her plot, to keep readers interested..This is not the only time she does so. At the end of the book, she states her next book would probably be about Julia Stimson, another woman who is an important historical character. Turns out I had read this book previously and Wood imagined another romance there, which never happened.
If you read this book, I urge you to at least read the Wikipedia pages on these individuals. Not just for the three Roeblings, but also for Julia Stimson. Then you might also find yourself reading the page on John Roebling, Washington and Emily's son. He also had a successful career, and his legacy is the important Archbold Biological Station in Florida. Even better, his own son was the inventor of a vehicle which played an extremely important role in World War II.
My only comment about the historical accuracy of this book regards something the author writes at the opening of Chapter 29. She states the year 1876 had two tragedies: a collapse of a railroad bridge in Ohio and a theater fire in Brooklyn. Americans alive in that year would be surprised at this, as the greatest tragedy occurring that year was the June 25th Battle of the Little Big Horn, where George Custer and the 7th Cavalry met their end and cast a pall over the July 4th celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the United States.
And I'll be posting my copy for the next person who has it WLed.
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