Books - Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

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	Books - Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World is a book written by Deborah Cadbury. The book tells the stories of seven great feats of engineering that took place over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were:

The Great Eastern
The Bell Rock Lighthouse
The Brooklyn Bridge
The London Sewers
The Transcontinental Railroad
The Panama Canal
The Hoover Dam

In 2003, the BBC decided to make a seven-part documentary about each of these wonders. The programmes were dramatised versions of actual events: actors played the various figures involved, reciting monologues and dialogue based on their letters and writings. A book was released in conjunction with the television series.

The Great Eastern

The Great Eastern was a ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The book depicts the travails of its construction and launch, including fire at the dockyards, extensive problems with the launch and the discovery of several corpses in the hull when the ship was dismantled. The ship was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's last venture.

The Bell Rock Lighthouse

The Bell Rock Lighthouse story tells of the difficult construction of an offshore lighthouse on Bell Rock, a place which had claimed the lives of ships and sailors for hundreds of years. The story relates the efforts of a group of men and a donkey called Bettie who would strive for its completion amid loss of life.

The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge story is about a man who achieved his father's dream by building a bridge across the East River.

The London Sewerage System

The London sewers story tells of how Joseph Bazalgette addressed the needs of a whole city, London. There was no proper sanitation and an end to the smog and stench that blanketed London was needed.

The Transcontinental Railroad

This story tells of a group of men from both sides of the United States whom raced to finish their half of the railroad first. It would tell of cheap scams and of the hardest parts in the race but how they still came to accomplish what they started.

The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal story tells of a bankrupt Frenchman's dream to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. However, the job was restarted by the US army and how they tried to keep diseases off men and how they kept workers going.

The Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam story tells of one mans dream to one day conquer the Colorado River. The story is filled with horrors of men getting buried alive in fast setting concrete and how men were blown apart by dynamite.

Reference

The ISBN for this book is 0-00-716304-5

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Seven Wonders of the Industrial World ]

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