Product Description

This is the story of Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) and of the conception, and controversial construction of the tower that bears his name, perhaps the most famous tall building in the world. The Eiffel Tower was erected in 1887-9 on the Champs-des-Mars in Paris at a cost of GBP260,000 for the World Exhibition of 1889. Originally an unpopular project, which was widely satirised, it became an instant favourite when completed. Visitors flocked to see the new building and, until 1930, the tower was the highest building in the world. But there is more to Eiffel than the tower that bears his name. Born in Dijon in 1832, Eiffel designed aqueducts and bridges throughout the world. In 1885, he designed the interior load-bearing skeleton and mechanisms of the Statue of Liberty. Yet, just at the point of his greatest success, Gustave Eiffel signed contracts for the project which was to bring scandal on his name - the construction of locks for the Panama Canal. Implicated in indictments of fraud, Eiffel was fined and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Although later exonerated, the Panama affair ruined him, and the stain of scandal never quite left him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #944836 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
DAVID I. HARVIE is a freelance film editor, and a regular contributor of features on history and social history to newspapers and magazines. His previous books include Limeys (Sutton 2002) and he lives in Dumbarton, Scotland.

Customer Reviews

The Engineering Giant
We owe Eiffel a great debt just for his Paris tower, but who has heard of his stupendous viaduct at Garabit? His works should be more widely know and this new biography goes some way down that path. It is a well researched book, and exposes much about him as a methodical and systematic engineer who created structures of outstanding beauty and integrity. And he cared about the workers who actually built his designs, a rarity in Victorian times. The book can be criticised for being too brief about his achievements, especially the engineering principles which guided him through his career. And the illustrations are frustratingly sparse and unimaginative for his creations. Some of the early works, for example, are the dramatic viaducts on the Gannat railway, and surely deserve modern pictures (they are still standing and still carrying trains). The book deserves a wide readership, but the defintive bio of Eiffel has yet to be written.