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9780252074097 Add to Cart Academic Inspection Copy

Rails Across the Mississippi

  • ISBN-13: 9780252074097
  • Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
    Imprint: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
  • By Robert W Jackson
  • Price: AUD $45.99
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 13/02/2007
  • Format: Paperback 312 pages Weight: 0g
  • Categories: Travel & holiday [WT]
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An absorbing tale of grand dreams, shady politics, daring engineering experiments, greed, ambition, and westward expansion, Rails across the Mississippi is the first book-length history since 1881 to document the planning, financing, and construction of the first bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis, a national engineering landmark com-pleted in 1874 that is now known as the Eads Bridge. James B. Eads--who was not even a trained engineer--proposed a radical arch bridge longer than any in existence using steel, a material thought unsuitable for long-span bridges by virtually every engineer in America and Europe. Robert W. Jackson takes a fresh look at this monumental project, dispelling the myths, filling in the gaps left by earlier scholarship, and detailing how Eads tenaciously overcame the many obstacles he faced to realize his unique vision.
''[The Eads Bridge ] has long been recognized as one of the outstanding civil engineering accomplishments of 19th-century America...Jackson portrays Eads as an eccentric engineer with a dominating personality who was concerned more with building a unique and enduring monument than with keeping costs down and insuring timely completion and profitability. The research is thorough, the writing excellent.'' Choice
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