Customer Reviews

High Steel: The Daring Men Who Built the World's Greatest Skyline

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being an Ironworker for the last 42 years myself, I found this book right on the mark about the lives of working Ironworkers. Mr. Rasenberger has identified the uniqueness of Ironworkers in his book and ties it all together with some very interesting historical events that occurred to the Ironworkers Union. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about real life people, their work and the dangers of that work.

An outstanding account of the brotherhood that built the New York City skyline. Rasenberger does two things particularly well in this book. First, he provides a fine history of the DANGEROUS iron working trade, as it developed with the advent of the syscraper, the redoubtable Flatiron building. "The danger was reflected in the carnage...of 1,000 members of Chicago Local 1 that same year, 103 were injured, 15 permanently disabled and 18 died." Second, he paints lovely portraits of the individuals (the stoic daredevils) who did the work, Sam Parks, "Frenchy" and Jack Doyle, to name a few. I highly recommend that a prospective reader use Amazon's "look inside" feature to sample Rasenber's non-nonsene prose, so well-suited to his subject matter.

This story of iron workers is both extremely interesting and a really fun read. It provides beautifully crafted vignettes drawn both from the history of iron workers and from contemporary tales of today's iron workers at work in New York. A strong narrative thread connects these stories as the reader learns about the lives of a small group of iron workers today at the same time as Rasenberger deftly introduces the history of this trade and its daring tradesmen that brings this story to life and sets it in context. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in iron workers, in the history of our tall buildings and impressive bridges and to anyone looking for an accessible and fun read about real workers engaged in daring and dangerous work. It's beautifully written, a sympathetic portrait, yet one that is not afraid to highlight the faults and foibles of the people it describes, making the story one that resonates as accurate and, most of all, real.

Jim Rasenberger unblinkingly depicts the demanding nature of the work done by these unique men. The reader cannot help but be impressed with their bravery and accomplishment.

It's also clear that this is one of the last few places where men only need apply. In almost every other phase of American working life, qualified women are accepted as working peers. It's really ironic that one of the thickest "glass ceilings" is where they haven't even built the ceiling yet...

But Rasenberger's job is not to change this world, but just write about it. And write he does - you share in the working days of these men, of what happens when they fall (as they do), their families, their heritage, and, in an especially moving chapter, their heroic work right after the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Gender equality is the right thing. I get impatient when I encounter a workplace where women are so clearly unwelcome. What these men do, though, is very special and very much worth our attention and praise. As we might ask them to confront their stereptypes about women, we're challenged to confront our own stereotypes about the "lazy, ignorant construction worker." Rasenberger teaches us that nothing could be more unfair.

These are intelligent, skilled, disciplined and, above all, brave men who can do what we need done. The book will open your eyes.

"High Steel" has the reader marveling that this dramatic story has remained untold until now. As in "Seabiscuit," the author's narrative skills work with an exotic profession, and a dramatic period in history, to produce a truly gripping read. Rasenberger illuminates the history of ironwork in this country, and beautifully evokes both its danger and its draw to those who join the trade. It is a thrilling, perilous, foreign world up there where the ironworkers spend their days; we are privileged to gain entrance to this world through "High Steel."

Must read for anyone in the Ironworker family!! You will learn a lot about what it means to live the life plus you'll learn the roots and sufferings of the early sky-walkers.

Not many books have made me stay up until the early morning hours reading,this one did,the alternating chapters of present day steel workers and early 1900s history was a stroke of genius,all you office people who sit in your little air conditioned rat holes all year need to read this and understand what the construction industry has had to put up with for many years just so you little prima donnas can be comfortable.This is the story of real men working hard for a living.

The samplings i read from your book read akin to a piece wrote more than 50 years previous-"McSorley's Wonderful Saloon", by Joseph Mitchell.

Is there one reference to Joseph Mitchell in your book-or commentaries discussing your book?

If not, is this an unconcious misake, or a deliberate one?