Highway under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel
320
Highway under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel
320eBook
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Overview
Choice's Outstanding Academic Title list for 2013
"There is no comparable book on this tunnel. Highly recommended."—Choice Reviews
Every year, more than thirty-three million vehicles traverse the Holland Tunnel, making their way to and from Jersey City and Lower Manhattan. From tourists to commuters, many cross the tunnel's 1.6-mile corridor on a daily basis, and yet few know much about this amazing feat of early 20th-century engineering. How was it built, by whom, and at what cost? These and many other questions are answered in Highway Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel, Robert W. Jackson's fascinating story about this seminal structure in the history of urban transportation.
Jackson explains the economic forces which led to the need for the tunnel, and details the extraordinary political and social politicking that took place on both sides of the Hudson River to finally enable its construction. He also introduces us to important figures in the tunnel's history, such as New Jersey Governor Walter E. Edge, who, more than anyone else, made the dream of a tunnel a reality and George Washington Goethals (builder of the Panama Canal and namesake of the Goethals Bridge), the first chief engineer of the project.
Fully illustrated with more than 50 beautiful archival photographs and drawings, Jackson's story of the Holland Tunnel is one of great human drama, with heroes and villains, that illustrates how great things are accomplished, and at what price.
Highway Under the Hudson featured in the New York Times
Listen to Robert Jackson talk about the book on WAMC Radio
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780814745038 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | New York University Press |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Sales rank: | 61,802 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
About the Author
Robert W. Jackson is an urban planner and historian, and previously served as a historian for the Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, where he documented historic bridges and highways in Texas, Iowa and Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in American Civilization from University of Texas, and is the author of Rails across the Mississippi: A History of the St. Louis Bridge. He currently lives in Austin, Texas.
Table of Contents
Introduction ? The Impetus ? Vexing Questions ? A Coal Famine ? Th e Wedding Ring ? A Controversy Acute and Personal ? Political and Petty Tampering ? Another Long and Costly Delay ? A Tempest in a Teapot ? The Sandhogs ?? The Holland Tunnel ?? One Work Complete ?? Fires, Blasts Rip Holland Tunnel ?? Built to Last Forever Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index About the AuthorWhat People are Saying About This
His vivid account features a colorful cast of characters...An important work chronicling a largely unsung American engineering feat...it remains a compelling story that serves as a dramatic reminder that government can accomplish great things that the private sector cannot."-Library Journal,
"Robert Jackson spent three-and-a-half years compiling a complete history on [the Holland Tunnel]...[he] delves into not only the history of this famous tunnel but the drama behind its construction, the people involved and the unique engineering that took place."-Linnea Covington,Our Town
"There is no comparable book on this tunnel. Highly recommended."-D. Brand,CHOICE
"Historian Jackson provides an excellent history of the Holland Tunnel's politics and planning, 1906-20; its construction, 1920-27; and its operations in the 1930s-40s. He describes in detail the self-serving politics and corruption, particularly of New Jersey's tunnel commissioners in the 1910s-20s... The volume includes photographs of politicians, engineers, and construction, but no tables. The references, bibliography, and index are excellent. There is no comparable book on this tunnel. Summing Up: Highly recommended."-Choice Reviews,
"When the Holland Tunnel opened in 1927, it was the world’s longest and largest vehicular tunnel and was distinguished by an innovative ventilation system. Until then, vehicles were ferried across the Hudson and were subject to the vicissitudes of ice and fog. In Highway under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel, Robert W. Jackson explores the tortured bistate bureaucratic and political prelude to the construction of the 1.6-mile underwater corridor, which, by the way, was named not for the region’s Dutch roots, but for the project’s first chief engineer, Clifford Holland of Brooklyn, who died at 41 of heart failure in a sanitarium while undergoing a tonsillectomy."-The New York Times