“New York a place where a man came with what is new and the see something new.”
West Point was the only College pre-Civil War that taught civil engineering.
West Point was not only preparing men for war but on how to fully grow society. The civil engineer curriculum at West Point had a lot of opposition because some people thought men only needed to know military strategy. But when Sylvanus Thayer was put in charge he made sure the men knew how to build fortresses, remove their sewage, have an understanding of bridges. Many men had great careers once leaving the army because America was starting to really grow. This book focuses on a few of the men that went to New York City.
This book does not get into the nitty-gritty of engineering but shows how West Point prepared the men to be organized enough to lead large groups of workers, to ignore politics (some of the men had broke from the union for fight for their southern homeland during the Civil War, only to be reunited with fellow West Point graduates to build and shape cities), and to having the determination to complete the job.
New York City post Civil War was a growing metropolis with lots of industry and ideas. They did great earthwork projects by clearing the river of rock for easier navigation, found ways to get enough water in reservoirs to service the city, built large bridges across the rivers, started a subway system and worked on the sanitation problem of having so many people in a small area.
Like most books by a college press, this may be a little dry for a casual reader. But to anyone who enjoys history, military history, NYC, or early civil engineering this book will be quite enjoyable. Also if you listen to the audiobook, Kamish has a very conversational tone, and actually makes the book very enjoyable with his narration.