Eiffel's Tower for Young People
Ratings1
Average rating5
15
Ratings1
Average rating5
Eiffel's Tower for Young People is a vivid, lively pageant of people and cultures meeting—and competing—on the world stage at the dawn of the modern era. The 1889 World's Fair was a worldwide event showcasing the cutting-edge cultural and technological accomplishments of the world's most powerful nations on the verge of a new century. France, with its long history of sophistication and cultivation and a new republican government, presented the Eiffel Tower, the world's tallest structure, crafted from eighteen thousand pieces of wrought iron and 2.5 million rivets, as a symbol of national pride and engineering superiority. The United States, with its brash, can-do spirit, full of pride in its frontier and its ingenuity, presented the rollicking Wild West show of Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley, and the marvelous new phonograph of Thomas Edison. With historical photos throughout, outsized personalities, squabbling artists, and a sprinkling of royalty, this dramatic history opens a window to a piece of the past that, in its passions and politics, is an unforgettable portrait of a unique moment in history.
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“On a January afternoon in 1888, Annie Oakley was toasting muffins and making tea in her apartment in New York City when a reporter visited.”
Annie Oakley? In a book about the Eiffel Tower?
Yes, it turns out, this book about the construction of the Eiffel Tower doesn't have only the expected characters of the designer and engineer Gustave Eiffel; also making unexpected appearances are such diverse personalities as Thomas Edison, Buffalo Bill Cody, the strident artist James McNeill Whistler, Vincent and Theo Van Gogh, the Prince of Wales, the Shah of Persia, and Paul Gauguin. It's a wonderful ride of a story, taking us through the process of trying to get backing for the Eiffel Tower as centerpiece of the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, through the construction process, and through the World's Fair itself.
Jill Jonnes is an esteemed historian, but don't let that put you off this book; it is actually one of the book's strengths that it has been well-researched. She's a great writer, too. I liked this book so much that I plan to find the original book for adults from which this book was made, Eiffel's Tower.
