0
    • Common Reads Library Marketing
    0 0
    Download high-resolution image Look inside

    American Bridge

    Reinventing Building, Making History

    Part of Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation series

    Author Gregory Dreicer
    Look inside
    Paperback
    $75.00 US
    | $99.00 CAN
    The MIT Press
    On sale Jan 20, 2026 | 420 Pages | 9780262552110
    Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

    See Additional Formats
    View on Edelweiss
    Why a world-transforming invention remained an untold story—until now.

    How did builders shift from the erection of one structure at a time to the mass construction of hundreds of thousands? American Bridge explores a radical reimagining, a new way of building that introduced uniformity and modularity on a global scale while enabling the connectivity essential to the rise of the nation-state. With tales of bygone infrastructure and astonishing images, Gregory Dreicer spans a deep gap in history. He tracks the transnational creative flows that propelled the development of beam, truss, and skeleton frame as industrial essentials, shaped by classical, capitalist, techno-utopian beliefs that still animate engineering and architecture.

    Evolutionism and nationalism for two centuries have dictated how innovators, their chroniclers, and all of us view materials, structures, and each other. These perspectives determine what we celebrate and who we forget. Dreicer instead prioritizes bridges over borders and evidence over myth. As a result, American Bridge restores lumber’s role as seminal industrial product. It recognizes the contributions of enslaved Black people at a transformational technological moment. It portrays designers, workers, and managers devising methods of launching long bridges and assembling the tallest of towers. And it invites you to consider the ever-changing meanings of “America.”
    ENDORSEMENTS

    “A landmark contribution to the history of technology—Dreicer exposes the ideological scaffolding behind one of America’s most iconic engineering structures. A masterful achievement.”
    —Joanna Merwood-Salisbury, author of Chicago 1890: The Skyscraper and the Modern City

    “Complex yet eminently readable, American Bridge challenges the reader to see infrastructure as essential to the narratives and imaginaries of the modern world.”
    —Mark Jarzombek, author of A Global History of Architecture

    “Challenging the concept of evolutionism in the history of construction, Dreicer’s in-depth study of the lattice bridge proposes a new approach based on innovation, entangling politics, and storytelling.”
    —Bertrand Lemoine, author of The Eiffel Tower

    “Dreicer’s engrossing study of the lattice truss bridge makes a nuanced and original contribution to the history of technology.”
    —John Ochsendorf, Professor of Engineering and Architecture, MIT

    “The publication of American Bridge can be described as a Sternstunde: a great moment in the history of construction.”
    —Karl-Eugen Kurrer, author of The History of the Theory of Structures
    Gregory Dreicer is a historian, curator, and experience designer whose transdisciplinary explorations and public engagement offerings include Between Fences, Me, Myself and Infrastructure, and Unbelievable. He has worked with the Museum of Vancouver, Chicago Architecture Foundation, and Museum of the City of New York.
    Gregory Dreicer View titles by Gregory Dreicer
    Contents
    Preface
    Introduction: Making History
    1 Fabricating Materials
    2 Assembling the Parts, 1560–1820
    3 Building Future States, 1820–1840
    4 Transforming Structures, 1820–1860
    5 Reinventing Building, 1818–1870
    6 Engineering Nations, 1840–1860
    7 Global Positioning, 1820–1907
    8 Getting High, 1840–1889
    Afterword: Restoring the Story
    Notes
    Index
    additional book photo

    About

    Why a world-transforming invention remained an untold story—until now.

    How did builders shift from the erection of one structure at a time to the mass construction of hundreds of thousands? American Bridge explores a radical reimagining, a new way of building that introduced uniformity and modularity on a global scale while enabling the connectivity essential to the rise of the nation-state. With tales of bygone infrastructure and astonishing images, Gregory Dreicer spans a deep gap in history. He tracks the transnational creative flows that propelled the development of beam, truss, and skeleton frame as industrial essentials, shaped by classical, capitalist, techno-utopian beliefs that still animate engineering and architecture.

    Evolutionism and nationalism for two centuries have dictated how innovators, their chroniclers, and all of us view materials, structures, and each other. These perspectives determine what we celebrate and who we forget. Dreicer instead prioritizes bridges over borders and evidence over myth. As a result, American Bridge restores lumber’s role as seminal industrial product. It recognizes the contributions of enslaved Black people at a transformational technological moment. It portrays designers, workers, and managers devising methods of launching long bridges and assembling the tallest of towers. And it invites you to consider the ever-changing meanings of “America.”

    Reviews

    ENDORSEMENTS

    “A landmark contribution to the history of technology—Dreicer exposes the ideological scaffolding behind one of America’s most iconic engineering structures. A masterful achievement.”
    —Joanna Merwood-Salisbury, author of Chicago 1890: The Skyscraper and the Modern City

    “Complex yet eminently readable, American Bridge challenges the reader to see infrastructure as essential to the narratives and imaginaries of the modern world.”
    —Mark Jarzombek, author of A Global History of Architecture

    “Challenging the concept of evolutionism in the history of construction, Dreicer’s in-depth study of the lattice bridge proposes a new approach based on innovation, entangling politics, and storytelling.”
    —Bertrand Lemoine, author of The Eiffel Tower

    “Dreicer’s engrossing study of the lattice truss bridge makes a nuanced and original contribution to the history of technology.”
    —John Ochsendorf, Professor of Engineering and Architecture, MIT

    “The publication of American Bridge can be described as a Sternstunde: a great moment in the history of construction.”
    —Karl-Eugen Kurrer, author of The History of the Theory of Structures

    Author

    Gregory Dreicer is a historian, curator, and experience designer whose transdisciplinary explorations and public engagement offerings include Between Fences, Me, Myself and Infrastructure, and Unbelievable. He has worked with the Museum of Vancouver, Chicago Architecture Foundation, and Museum of the City of New York.
    Gregory Dreicer View titles by Gregory Dreicer

    Table of Contents

    Contents
    Preface
    Introduction: Making History
    1 Fabricating Materials
    2 Assembling the Parts, 1560–1820
    3 Building Future States, 1820–1840
    4 Transforming Structures, 1820–1860
    5 Reinventing Building, 1818–1870
    6 Engineering Nations, 1840–1860
    7 Global Positioning, 1820–1907
    8 Getting High, 1840–1889
    Afterword: Restoring the Story
    Notes
    Index

    Photos

    additional book photo

    Additional formats

    Other books in this series

    Penguin Random House Library Marketing

    © 2026 Penguin Random House

    Back to Top
    0
    Wish List (0)
    • More Websites from
      Penguin Random House
    • Common Reads
    • Library Marketing