| American Miracle (1947) |
| Front Cover | Book Details | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notes/Review |
| D/j chipped. Stamp on inside front cover: Furnished by The Associated General Contractors of New Hampshire & Vermont, Inc. 3 Pleasant Street Concord, New Hampshire -------------------------------------------------------------------- American Miracle makes the case that the construction industry played a significant part in the Allies' victory in World War II. The book is in two parts. Each chapter in Part I covers a different topic, ranging from the well-known (the Alaskan Highway) to the more obscure (war worker housing). It is written in a style that sounded to me like a newsreel narrator - strident and a bit jingoistic. It is generally devoid of individual stories and often reads like a list of accomplishments than a narrative. Part II is a series of reports from the various agencies involved - from the Army and Navy down to the Public Road Administration. Nearly all these reports (generally just a few pages each) has one or more accompanying tables that support the report. The appendix contains more data-rich tables and a chronology of war construction. The book is not a scholarly history - there are no notes and no bibliography. Part way through reading, I was thinking I'd rate the book 3 stars or less, but in its entirety I found it quite satisfying and thought provoking. |