Michael Aaron Rockland's book, "The George Washington Bridge: Poetry in Steel," is not only about that great bridge but about the author's adventures on it.

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 He came to write it when he tried to get a book to read on the George from libraries and discovered there wasn't any. Meanwhile the shelves were covered with the nine books written on the Brooklyn Bridge. He figured that if he was to read a book on the bridge he'd have to write it. One thing he discovered is that the George was supposed to look entirely different than it does and, wonder of wonders, it was completed a year early and millions of dollars under budget. While New Yorkers tend to ignore the George and favor the Brooklyn, this is part of the city's long disdain for all things Jersey. Ironically, the great architects of the 20th century favored the George not only over the Brooklyn but, as the great architect  Le Corbusier wrote, "The George Washington is the most beautiful bridge in the world," and Mies Van de Rohe considered it "the most beautiful structure in the Greater New York area." These architects were thrilled that steel could be beautiful, and celebrated the fact that, of all bridges, form follows function when it comes to the George. The George is  now almost ninety years old is the busiest bridge in the world, with some 106 million vehicles passing over it each year. 

This book was Professor Rockland's fifteenth, and the sixteenth and seventeenth will appear in the next year or so. His early career was in the U.S. diplomatic service with several of our embassies overseas. He has been at Rutgers, first as a dean, then as a professor and writer, half a century,

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See our homepage for the American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) 2021 conference virtual exhibit.

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Explore the glamorous and scandalous history of the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel!
Uncover the history of Peacock Alley and how it got its name

Find out the truth about the “feuding” Astor cousins whose money built the original Waldorf-Astoria on Fifth Avenue, where the Empire State Building now stands

Discover secrets of the Waldorf’s “black book” – the detectives’ log of immoral and illegal activity kept hidden from all but the most senior hotel staff

Learn about the remarkable technological maneuvers that enabled the “new” Waldorf-Astoria – a skyscraper that opened on Park Avenue in 1931 – to be constructed on top of railroad tracks as passenger trains continued to run below
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About this Talk:

Known internationally as a symbol of elegance and luxury, Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria is one of the world’s most famous hotels. Its reputation as a host to political leaders and movie stars is matched only by the renown of its cuisine and soaring Deco architecture. In this lecture based on his new book, American Hotel: The Waldorf-Astoria and The Making of a Century, historian David Freeland will take us behind the glittering image, using rare photos and documents to reveal the full extent of the Waldorf’s contribution as a shaper of twentieth-century life and culture.

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