Product Description

The Gate is an absorbing panoramic account of the building of one of the world's most beautiful and famous landmarks. In a narrative richly laden with detail and the flavor of the period, John van der Zee reveals for the first time the complete history of the longest single-span suspension bridge of its time—including the identity of the man who actually designed it, which has been obscured since its completion in 1937.

With novelistic flair, van der Zee recounts an exciting drama of human greed, ambition, frailty, courage, and intellectual achievement.

"It is among the top books on California I have ever read."—Kevin Starr, State Librarian of California and author of Americans and the California Dream

"A case study of personal and technological adventure bordering on hubris...The engineers in this bok come alive as people, with all the faults and foibles associated iwth the human species. A fascinating work that shows that the best of cutting-edge engineering is much, much more than science and technology."—Henri Petroski, Nature

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #370579 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 388 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780595094295
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
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Review
"The Gate is carefully crafted and wonderfully readable." -- A.C. Greene, author of A Personal County

About the Author
John van der Zee is the author of ten books. His works has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles times, the San Francisco Examiner, Town & Country, Hard Row to Hoe, and Ramparts and Zyzzyva.

Customer Reviews

A thriller for engineers and others.
The book is one of the few books that I've ever read twice. And I find that I've continued to tell other people about this book from time to time. I would characterize the book as a thriller or, at least a drama, for and about engineers. The book is highly location-conscious. After reading the book, you'll be able to relate how the Golden Gate Bridge is related to engineering companies in New York City, to fund-raising efforts in the northern counties in California, to engineering professors in the mid-west, to a theater designer of the 1939 World's Fair on Treasure Island, to professors at U.C.Berkeley, and to a certain humble bascule bridge that continues its unsung day-to-day chores in an obscure part of San Francisco. To repeat, I really liked the author's interconnections, that he related in the book. The book deserves to be back in print, and it deserves to be in every gift shop in the City. The book is highly fact-based (it is not laced with fanciful commentary), and yet the book is difficult to put down. Perhaps the most striking and sad part of Van Der Zee's book, is that the engineer responsible for most of the innovations of the bridge was left off of the plaque (for political reasons), which is mounted on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Can't Stop Reading This Book!
I have a bad habit of picking up books that look interesting and then giving up after the first hundred or so pages. This book is one of the few out there that gain and hold your interest, with such compelling detail that it boggles the mind how the author could have compiled and written this book in just 18 months. This is a wonderful, well-researched book with many surprising twists and turns. In fact, I bank with Bank of America, and now when I go up to the ATM and see the picture of the Golden Gate on the screen, I know why that image is there. A must read, and you will never look at the Golden Gate the same way again.

Let's Make It a Movie: Survivor III!
San Francisco politics. Bridge politics. Egos clashing and crashing. The original "Survivor" saga, this book has all sorts of people intrique. Strauss is definitely the book's Richard. If the two of them ever sought out the same goal....yikes!! Strauss cut deals with everyone from whom he could benefit, and he axed out those "friends" as soon as he was finished 'using' them. The designer, Ellis...out, and it was three years before he could find another job in the depression 30s. O'Shaunassy, as SF's city engineer, was right in there swinging from the start. Michael was voted out by Strauss, and cast aside. (He did finish the Hetch Hetchy project for the city.) Strauss created a string of bodies as his ego forged ahead to be known as "Mr. Bridge, designer, builder, ......" of the Golden Gate span. Well, he was none of these things. Unfortunately, the text is quite weak on providing the engineering details of the span.The few pictures the book has are interesting, but not sufficient to acquire a good idea of the supurb engineering that went into the structure. You'll have to go to another book for that!