{"title":"John K Brown","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"spanning-the-gilded-age-book-john-k-brown-9781421448626","title":"Spanning the Gilded Age","description":"The fascinating history of the St. Louis Bridge, the first steel structure in the world.  Winner of the 2025 Captain Donald T. Wright Award for Maritime Journalism and Literature by the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library  In Spanning the Gilded Age, John K. Brown tells the daring, improbable story of the construction of the St. Louis Bridge, known popularly as the Eads Bridge. Completed in 1874, it was the first structure of any kind—anywhere in the world—built of steel. This history details the origins, design, construction, and enduring impact of a unique feat of engineering, and it illustrates how Americans built their urban infrastructure during the nineteenth century.   With three graceful arches spanning the Mississippi River, the Eads Bridge's twin decks carried a broad boulevard above a dual-track railroad. To place its stone piers on bedrock, engineer James Eads pioneered daring innovations that allowed excavators to work one hundred feet beneath the river. With construction scarcely begun, Eads circulated a prospectus—offering a 400 percent return on investment—that attracted wealthy investors, including J. Pierpont Morgan in New York and his father, Junius, in London. This record-breaking design, which employed a novel method to lay its foundations and an untried metal for its arches, was projected by a steamboat man who had never before designed a bridge.   By detailing influential figures such as James Eads, the Morgans, Andrew Carnegie, and Jay Gould, Spanning the Gilded Age offers new perspectives on an era that saw profound changes in business, engineering, governance, and society. Beyond the bridge itself, Brown explores a broader story: how America became urban, industrial, and interconnected. This triumph of engineering reflects the Gilded Age's grand ambitions, and the bridge remains a vital transportation artery today.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49777700569361,"sku":"NGR9781421448626","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51025235345681,"sku":"NIN9781421448626","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51430238454033,"sku":"CIN1421448629G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52394382819601,"sku":"CIN1421448629VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1421448629.jpg?v=1751084238"},{"product_id":"baldwin-locomotive-works-1831-1915-book-john-k-brown-9780801868122","title":"The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915","description":"The largest maker of heavy machinery in Gilded Age America and an important global exporter, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia achieved renown as one of the nation's most successful and important firms. Relying on gifted designers and skilled craftsmen, Baldwin built thousands of standard and custom steam locomotives, ranging from narrow gauge 0-4-0 industrial engines to huge mallet compounds. John K. Brown analyzes the structure of railroad demand; the forces driving continual innovation in locomotive design; Baldwin's management systems, shop-floor skills, and career paths; and the evolution of production methods.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49969752441105,"sku":"CIN0801868122G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51686679478545,"sku":"CIN0801868122VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0801868122.jpg?v=1750914606"},{"product_id":"baldwin-locomotive-works-1831-1915-book-john-k-brown-9780801850479","title":"The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915","description":"The largest maker of heavy machinery in Gilded Age America and an important global exporter, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia achieved renown as one of nation's most successful and significant firms. Relying on skilled craftsmen in labour-intensive batch production, Baldwin led the capital equipment sector that built the infrastructure of modern America. This book combines methods and insights from economic, business, labour, and social history and the history of technology to give an account of this giant of 19th-century industry. It analyzes the structure of railroad demand, the forces driving continual innovation in locomotive design, Baldwin's management systems, shop-floor skills and career paths, and the evolution of production methods. Baldwin's sophisticated production-management controls prefigured the scientific management movement and allowed the firm to fulfil its customers' special design needs, thus cementing close relations with clients. The company became so adept at meeting varied specifications that in a single year, 1890, its 4500 workers made 946 locomotives to 316 different designs. This work describes the unique challenges involved in building capital equipment - the heavy machinery that transformed the USA into the world's top industrial power in the late 19th and 20th centuries. By exploring the growth and operations of the leading firm in this influential but unexamined sector, it offers insights into American technological, economic, business and labour history.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51853327139089,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51853327335697,"sku":"CIN0801850479G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53247551045905,"sku":"CIN0801850479VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780801850479.jpg?v=1753708882"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-john-k-brown.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}