Books by Author John K. Brown

John K. Brown, 2024

Completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis rivaled the Brooklyn Bridge as an icon of American technological accomplishment. The first structure of any kind (anywhere in the world) to rely on steel, its pathbreaking design broke records. Significant players in its creation included the Morgan banks, Andrew Carnegie, and U.S. Grant. Its designer left formal schooling after the eighth grade, and this was his first bridge. It remains in daily use, now 150 years old. The book ultimately explores how Americans of the Gilded Age built their urban infrastructures.

John K. Brown, 2001

Accounts of mass production dominate our understanding of American industrial history, everything from textiles to guns and Ford cars, made in vast profusion with interchangeable parts. An entirely different model grew to prominent success in the nineteenth century. Everything from ships and bridges to printing presses and locomotives were made-to-order products – sold before they were made, then designed in collaboration with customers. Often built from a mix of standard and custom parts, these machines were the prime movers of industrial societies.