A review of the Great Bridge by David McCullough

It’s actually cheaper to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge now than when it opened for business in 1883. When I crossed earlier in the year it was free of charge, but when the bridge opened it cost a full penny – and a few extra if you had farm animals in tow. The Great Bridge, by David McCullough, tells the epic story of the building of the bridge, a nearly 14 year journey to erect the longest suspension bridge the world had ever seen. To this day the iconic bridge remains in great shape, though several other bridges have long since surpassed its considerable length.

They say maybe 20 men died in the construction of the bridge, but those figures are not exact. Though there were painstaking records kept even in those days, for some reason those who lived and those who died were not one of them. Perhaps it’s because the wounds from the Civil War were still fresh during the bridge’s construction. America was used to death and dying. And, in comparison to some cities where they used the volatile and explosive nitroglycerin, losing 20 men was nothing. A dig in Boston resulted in over 300 dead. This was also an era of significant immigration. New residents were hungry for work no matter what the consequences.

The Great Bridge is mainly the story of its chief engineers, father and son John and Washington Roebling.  John, the patriarch, was an immigrant German with a talent for building – especially bridges – and had a work ethic and willpower to see his projects through. The younger Washington was a Civil War officer who shared his father’s passions, and who rose to the occasion after John passed away in a freak accident as the bridge construction was in its infancy.

I would urge anyone visiting New York City to take a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge. You really feel the history in your bones, and the views in all directions are spectacular. I would equate the Brooklyn Bridge experience with the feeling one gets when entering a great cathedral. All the feelings of beauty, enormity, and the pride of human achievement come flooding inside along with the mourning for the departed. It’s a good feeling.  It’s an incredible bridge.