Colossus
The Turbulent, Thrilling Saga of the Building of Hoover Dam
Free Press · Print & ebook · May 3, 2011
As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America’s most awe-inspiring, if dubious, achievements.
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- Who it’s for
- A monumental engineering feat comes into focus through political maneuvering, hard labor, and sheer will.
- Themes
- Hoover Dam construction, Labor hardship and union strikes, America during the Great Depression
- Genres
- Dams & Reservoirs, 20th-Century America, Western U.S. History
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As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America’s most awe-inspiring, if dubious, achievements. This epic story of the dam—from conception to design to construction—by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik exposes the tremendous hardships and accomplishments of the men on the ground—and in the air—who built the dam and the demonic drive of Frank Crowe, the boss who pushed them beyond endurance.
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It is a tale of the tremendous will exerted from start to finish, detailing the canny backroom dealings by Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the herculean engineering challenges Crowe faced, and the terrific union strikes by the men who daily fought to beat back the Colorado River. Colossus tells an important part of the story of America’s struggle to pull itself out of the Great Depression by harnessing the power of its population and its natural resources.
Building Against the River
A monumental engineering feat comes into focus through political maneuvering, hard labor, and sheer will.
Come here for
- Engineering on an epic scale, with the human cost kept in view
- The collision of labor, politics, and the Colorado River
Expect
- A sweeping account from conception through construction
- Ambition pushed to its limits—and sometimes beyond endurance
Where it sits
| Dams & Reservoirs | 68% |
|---|---|
| 20th-Century America | 58% |
| Western U.S. History | 45% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- History
- 20th-Century America
- Western U.S. History
- Authors
- Michael Hiltzik
- Publisher
- Free Press
- Published
- May 3, 2011
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Hoover Dam construction · Labor hardship and union strikes · America during the Great Depression
- Reading lane
- History