Product Description

An account of American bridge design, from familiar monuments to modest structures that offer eloquent statements of problems solved.
Bridges are such ubiquitous features of the built environment that we cross most of them barely acknowledging their presence. Certain bridges, however, command attention: for their utility facilitating travel from here to there; for their size, setting, beauty, or historical associations. Ordinary or spellbinding, every bridge is a response to a problem—the spanning of a river or other obstacle, solved more or less elegantly. This visual sourcebook surveys American bridges from coast to coast in terms of four fundamental structural types (beam, arch, truss, and suspension) and the special category of movable bridges (swing, lift, and bascule) showing how similar structural ideas have been addressed by different designers, refined over time, and rendered in various building materials. A special feature is "A Call for Preservation" of the American bridge engineering heritage by Eric DeLony, formerly chief of the Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service. .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #358679 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Review
Every reader’s knowledge should be enhanced by this book….[N]o better detailed history of bridges since 1750. (Construction History )

[A]nother example that the as-of-now published titles in the Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebook series are a must have for architectural history buffs and barn, theater, canal, lighthouse and bridge enthusiasts alike. (Traditional Building )

[F]ascinating. (IA: Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology )

[T]his book will be an invaluable reference for architects, engineers and preservationists. (Engineering News-Record )

About the Author
Richard L. Cleary is associate professor in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin, and lives in Austin.

Customer Reviews

Bridge Photo Book
This was the book I was looking for. In addition to the photos in the book, it had a CD with the same photos. I was able to put together a talk without having to scan all the images I needed. I would rate the book as excellent.
Mike Ciosek

A survey highly recommended
BRIDGES: A NORTON/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS VISUAL SOURCEBOOK provides a survey of the history, engineering challenges and art of American bridge design, from major national monuments to local structures which display unique solutions to bridge-building problems. All structural types - from arch to suspension - are covered, and even moveable bridges are surveyed to provide insights into common engineering and design approaches. Packed with black and white photos throughout, BRIDGES is a survey highly recommended for any college-level collection strong in either engineering or structural art.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

A Useful Photo Book, Best Suited for Professionals
This is primarily a photo book of US bridges, spanning the history of the US right up to the present. The photos are organized into five chapters based on bridge type: beam, arch, truss, movable, and suspension/cable-stayed bridges. Since the focus is on the photos, the extent of narrative text in the book is quite limited.

The photos are all black and white, but they're of high quality and very numerous. The photos are also included on a CD which comes with the book, which helps to justify the somewhat high price of the book.

The scope of the book should be sufficient to meet the needs of professionals (eg, architectural historians, industrial archeologists, and bridge engineers). Laypeople who are highly interested in bridges may enjoy the book also. However, if you're looking for a book on bridges which you can read with your kids, this probably isn't the book for you, since having fewer, larger, and color photos would be preferable for that purpose.