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The Life and Times of America's Greatest Bridge
Bloomsbury USA
July 2010
On Sale: July 6, 2010
224 pages ISBN: 159691534X EAN: 9781596915343 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
A lyrical account of the building and significance of the
Golden Gate Bridge, the quintessential image of California’s
breathtaking blend of nature and civilization, from an
award-winning authority on California history. The Golden Gate Bridge links the urbanity of San Francisco
with the wild headlands of Marin County, as if to suggest
the paradox of California and America itself—the place that
Fitzgerald saw as the last spot commensurate with the human
capacity for wonder. The bridge, completed in 1937, also
announced to the world America’s engineering prowess and
full assumption of its destined continental dominance. The
Golden Gate is a counterpart to the Statue of Liberty,
pronouncing American achievement in an unmistakable American
fashion. The nation’s very history is expressed in the
bridge’s art deco style and stark verticality. Kevin Starr’s Golden Gate is a brilliant and passionate
telling of the history of the bridge, and the rich and
peculiar history of the California experience. The Golden
Gate is a grand public work, a symbol and a very real
bridge, a magnet for both postcard photographs and suicides.
In this compact but comprehensive narrative, Starr unfolds
the hidden-in-plain-sight meaning of the Golden Gate,
putting it in its place among classic works of art.
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