A powerful first-hand account of the many generations and ethnic groups of men who have built America's skyscrapers. From the early days of steel construction in Chicago, through the great boom years of New York city ironwork, and up through the present, High Steel follows the trajectory of careers inextricably linked to both great accomplishment and catastrophic disaster. The personal stories reveal the lives of ironworkers and the dangers they face as they walk across the windswept, swaying summits of tomorrow's skyscrapers, balanced on steel girders sometimes only six inches wide. Rasenberger explores both the greatest accomplishments of ironwork—the vaulting bridges and towers that define America's skyline—and the deadliest disasters, such as the Quebec Bridge Collapse of 1907, when 75 ironworkers, including 33 Mohawk Indians, fell to their deaths. High Steel is an accessible, thrilling, and vertiginous portrait of the lives of some of our most brave yet unrecognized men. “A dizzying look at a world hundreds of feet above New York’s mean streets.” - Maxim (4 Star Review) “In HIGH STEEL, Jim Rasenberger immortalizes the daring ironworkers who erect the world’s most spectacular skylines.” - Vanity Fair “[Rasenberger] is as engaging a writer as Sebastian Junger and HIGH STEEL is a fast-paced read.” - Ottawa Citizen “Rasenberger’s compelling book ....Reveal[s] as much about the human spirit as about technological progress.” - Wall Street Journal “Rasenberger’s compelling book makes us look at the familiar story of the growth of New York from a new point of view…that of the men who actually built it.” - Wall Street Journal “Mr. Rasenberger’s sharp eye...his sympathetic imagination, and his graceful prose make for an engaging read....Beautifully written.” - New York Sun “Admirable....Rasenberger tell[s] his tale...uncommonly well.” - Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post “Fascinating....A breezy, anecdotal history of...the daredevils of the skies.” - New York Newsday “Fascinating.” - New York Magazine “Introduce[s] us to the romance and adventure of hard hats….men [who] make their living courting danger every day.” - New York Post “Fascinating....A breezy, anecdotal history of...the daredevils of the skies...who built New York City’s bridges and skyscrapers.” - New York Newsday “[A] riveting historical work.” - Chicago Sun-Times “HIGH STEEL is a testament to an incredible group of workers [that] ranks ... with Gay Talese’s classic THE BRIDGE.” - Daily News A powerful first-hand account of the many generations and ethnic groups of men who have built America's skyscrapers. From the early days of steel construction in Chicago, through the great boom years of New York city ironwork, and up through the present, High Steel follows the trajectory of careers inextricably linked to both great accomplishment and catastrophic disaster. The personal stories reveal the lives of ironworkers and the dangers they face as they walk across the windswept, swaying summits of tomorrow's skyscrapers, balanced on steel girders sometimes only six inches wide. Rasenberger explores both the greatest accomplishments of ironwork—the vaulting bridges and towers that define America's skyline—and the deadliest disasters, such as the Quebec Bridge Collapse of 1907, when 75 ironworkers, including 33 Mohawk Indians, fell to their deaths. High Steel is an accessible, thrilling, and vertiginous portrait of the lives of some of our most brave yet unrecognized men. Jim Rasenberger is a frequent contributor to the New York Times. He lives in New York City with his wife and twin sons. High Steel is his first book. High Steel The Daring Men Who Built the World's Greatest Skyline, 1881 to the Present By Rasenberger, Jim Perennial ISBN: 0060004355 Chapter One Some Luck Brett Conklin was one of the lucky ones. Of the 1,000 or so structural ironworkers who worked in New York City in the winter of 2001, most, like Brett, lived somewhere else. They lived at the far reaches of the city's suburbs, in Connecticut or New Jersey towns where a man making a good middle-class income could afford a patch of decent real estate. Or they lived in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, by the anchorage of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, where several hundred Mohawk Indians boarded during the week, four or five to a house. A few Newfoundlanders still held claim to the old neighborhood around 9th Street in Brooklyn, while another clan -- the Newfies of Lindenhurst -- maintained a well-kempt enclave on Long Island. One man lived on a farm in the Berkshires that winter, waking in the middle of the night to begin his star-lit drive to the city. Two men drove all the way from Wilmington, Delaware, to Times Square every morning, then back again every afternoon. Wherever an ironworker lived, chances were he came into Manhattan by one of its tunnels or bridges. The difference was enormous. A tunnel was dank, gloomy, infested. Entering New York by tunnel wa