Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City

I found the book very interesting without mind numbing detail you can encounter which such books. Anyone involved or interested in property development should certainly purchase this book for an insight into the common and fateful wrong motivation to develop monuments to oneself. It might be fun but it does come at a price. The book brings the conclusion of Raskob as the winner of the height race but does not take it to it's conclusion with enough details of the Empire State Building becoming a financial burdern during Raskob's life and therefore the call into question of a real success or win. The one dissappointment with the book is the exclusion of details of other challenges during the same time - specifically the City Services Building, City Bank Farmers Trust Building and 1 Wall Street and possibly the soon to follow Rockefella Center. Great recommended reading.

Although it's focus is specifically on the construction of three major buildings of the New York skyline, Higher is deep down a very fond remembrance of a time when fortunes were literally falling and yet the city of New York grew exponentially toward becoming the epitome of the modern metropolis.Neal Bascomb meticulously chronicles the events and characters who were responsible for this fertile period, but in doing so he very successfully manages to avoid bogging down in details and figures that might hinder a similarly-themed and more scholarly approach. This isn't to say that Bascomb didn't do his homework, but that he has been able to make a comprehensive narrative that's riveting (excuse the pun) and fast-paced. Indeed, the buildings themselves were all constructed with remarkable speed considering the scope of the projects and the technology of the day.It was a great pleasure to not only follow along in what was a true rat race for the tallest building but to also gain significant insight into what is my personal favorite of the skyline, the Chrysler Building - a structure that has lived all but one year of it's life in the shadow of the Empire State.

As a NYC resident I love this city and its unique history, and this book is perfect for people like me. Bascomb makes 1929 come to life and the intriguing little-known tales he tells about the city's most famous buildings are terrific. I read it in just a couple of days, I was that into it. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes New York, is fascinated by skyscrapers, or just loves a ripping good yarn.

About a month ago I read "Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center" by Daniel Okrent. If you are like me and can't get enough of NYC history, Neal Bascomb's "Higher" makes a wonderful companion piece. The subject is similar (massive construction projects), as is the timeframe (1920's-1930's). Mr. Bascomb's book goes into detail concerning the construction of 3 skyscrapers - the Chrysler Building, the Manhattan Company Building, and the Empire State Building. Mr. Bascomb's book works on several levels: as a straight narrative detailing the complexities of putting up super-large buildings; as a collection of mini-biographies of people integral to the story -including Walter Chrysler, and the architects William Van Alen and Craig Severance (former partners who had had a falling out); and as a cultural/social history of NYC as the Roaring Twenties end and the Great Depression begins. The author drives home the point that form and function follow personality and willpower. The beauty of the Chrysler Building is that it is not just another skyscraper. It reflects the vision of William Van Alen (and Walter Chrysler, who took an active interest in the project - looking at hundreds, if not thousands, of Van Alen's drawings and giving his input). Similarly, a man by the name of John Jakob Raskob ( with ties to General Motors, interestingly enough), by sheer force of will, managed to get the financiers to pony-up the money to put-up the Empire State Building even though the Depression had hit. Another "big theme" is that ego can sometimes overcome cool and calculated financial considerations. When Van Alen and Severance (Manhattan Company Building) realized they were in a "shooting for the stars-war" to build the tallest building, they did some things that made the number-crunchers quiver - adding on extra stories (which increases the need for elevator banks, services, etc. and decreases the percentage of rentable space) or adding on geegaws like the spire of the Chrysler Building, with its totally non-rentable area. Likewise, Raskob soldiered on with the Empire State Building even though many people told him he wouldn't be able to rent all that space during a financial downturn. (They were right. It opened with a 23% occupancy rate and was called the "Empty State Building." It didn't turn a profit until 1948.) The public relations war surrounding the 3 buildings provides an entertaining thread that runs throughout the book - when Severance realized that the spire of the Chrysler Building made it tallest, he countered with the argument that you should only count rentable space - which made the Manhattan Company Building higher. (The public didn't buy it. Taller is taller.) When Chrysler's people realized that within a year or so the Empire State Building would become a reality and would be the new number one, they went into "physical denial." They advertised their building as the biggest and the brightest, and pretended that rapidly growing structure

I came across this book over the weekend and picked it up for my dad's birthday. I started reading through it on the subway on the way home from the bookstore and could not put it down! I should admit that I don't normally read these kinds of books, but Bascomb does an amazing job of drawing you in with colorful descriptions of the times and characters involved in this truly incredible story of the skyscraper races during the 1920s. Yes, there was literally a race to be the tallest building in the world -- complete with a photo finish just in time for the stock market to crash! If you have any interest in New York, history, engineering, architecture, or just love a great story -- check it out. One of the best things I've picked up in a long time.