Description:
Who built the Empire State Building? Astonishingly, no list of workmen on this historic landmark was ever compiled. While the names of the owners, architects, and contractors are well known, and Lewis Hine's legendary portraits left us indelible images of the workers, their identities--the last generation of workmen still practicing these time-honored trades, have not been identified until author Glenn Kurtz unearthed their individual stories for this book.
Drawing on eclectic sources, Kurtz assembles biographies of these workers, providing not only a portrait of the building's labor force, and a revolutionary reinterpretation of Hine's world-famous photographs, but also a fundamental reimagining of what made the Empire State Building a fitting symbol for the nation, built as it was at the very height of the Great Depression.
For ninety years, photographer Lewis W. Hine's iconic portraits and photographs have served as potent symbols of America in the early 1930s. Yet as famous as Hine's images are, they have never been seen in their proper historical context. By identifying the individuals that built the early skyscraper, Men at Work transforms Hine's evocative portraits from abstract symbols of an era into documentary evidence of specific, working-class, immigrant, and indigenous American lives.
Brief description:
Gary Tiedemann is a Florida and New York-based narrator, but learned how to act in Chicago's improv, sketch-comedy, and theater scene. He came to audiobook narration after voicing countless commercials and videos over a twenty-year voice-over career. When Gary is not in a booth, he is probably outside wondering if there is time to go camping.