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BRIDGES AND MEN by Joseph Gies

BRIDGES AND MEN

By

Publisher: Doubleday

Bridges and Men elevates the subject of bridges to a level of the study of cathedrals, urn-burial, and similar arts. It covers every known mode of bridge-building, from the Stone Age to the Automobile Age. It also tackles (and demolishes) some famous bridges of poetry and fiction, including The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Bridge on the Drina, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, the endless St. Petersburg bridges in Crime and Punishment, and Hemingway's problem bridge in For Whom the Bell Tolls (""Robert Jordan's feat...remains a little reminiscent of those of James Thurber's immortal Walter Mitty."") Also surveyed are bridges in world painting, and Hart Crane's The Bridge. Here they are, London Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, the Bridge of Sighs, the Rialto Bridge, Golden Gate, George Washington, the Seine's bridges in Paris, the ancient Pons Sublicius that Horatius defended on the Tiber, old covered bridges, vine bridges and bridges you cross in baskets. All are illustrated very clearly. A realistic glorification of our instinct to engineer, Mr. Gies' survey is authoritative, literate and a refreshing glimpse into man's spirit.