THE GATE: The True Story of the Design and Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge

by John Van der Zee ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 1986

Van der Zee continues his literary affair with San Francisco (begun in The Imagined City) with this book marking the 50th birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge. His is no shoddy gift, but an impressively researched, carefully crafted biography of the bridge and the ambitious men who built it. Two strong personalities dominate this tale: Michael O'Shaughnessy, City Engineer of S.F. who rebuilt the city after the earthquake of 1912 and who long dreamed of bridging the Golden Gate, and Joseph Strauss, the ambitious engineer who designed the standard form of drawbridge. In a propaganda struggle that lasted for more than a decade and which is presented in all its fascinating minutiae by van der Zee, the two slowly persuaded the city that a Golden Gate bridge was feasible mechanically and financially, although in the end it was Strauss alone who took responsibility for construction. The author goes on to reveal that, contrary to popular belief, the designer of the final version of the bridge was not Strauss, but an unsung genius named Charles Ellis, whose methodical--and slow--approach to design eventually occasioned his firing by Strauss. After depicting the byzantine political jockeying and technical sleight of hand necessary to come up with an acceptable bridge design, van der Zer re-creates the grueling, Herculean task of construction--an effort that boasted an unparalleled safety record until the dark day when 10 workers died as their scaffolding collapsed and ripped through safety netting. Van der Zee does a commendable job of vivifying the story of the bridge, but it is questionable as to how many readers will find bridge building, no matter how cleverly presented, of sufficient interest to make their way through this rather narrow, and of necessity often technical, slice of history.

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION