The Tallest Tower: Eiffel and the Belle Epoque

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975. Presumed first edition/first printing. Hardcover. Good/Good. xi, 257 pages. Occasional footnotes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. DJ has some wear and soiling, edge and chips. Some edge soiling. Joseph Harriss is a reporter whose sharp insights illuminate whatever subject to which he turns his considerable talents. Derived from a Kirkus review: Built for the Paris Exposition of 1889, it was a display of France's new technological muscle and an ostentatious sign of recovery from the defeat by the German armies in 1870. The Tower marked the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Though its creator waxed lyrical about how valuable the Tower would be for predicting weather, or in time of war, an enemy advance on Paris, Frenchmen knew that the Tower was an utterly superfluous indulgence -- that was no small part of its charm. The people loved it and followed its progress all the way to the top. Harriss actually manages to immerse us in the construction job rivet by bolt with architectural drawings to scale and a detailed explanation of how this magnificent feat of engineering was designed to withstand the highest velocity winds. Certainly the best biography of a building and the cultural climate which spawned it.