-
The Great Bridge
- The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 27 hrs and 24 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $57.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Path Between the Seas
- The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 31 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. McCullough expertly weaves the many strands of this momentous event into a captivating tale.
-
-
A Complete *MYSTERY*
- By Nicholas Robinson on 01-25-20
By: David McCullough
-
The Johnstown Flood
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon.
-
-
A page-turner! HIstory that reads like a novel
- By Susan K Donley on 06-17-05
By: David McCullough
-
The Wright Brothers
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
-
-
Great book
- By S. Thurman on 06-17-15
By: David McCullough
-
Mornings on Horseback
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the 1982 National Book Award for Biography, Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as a masterpiece by Newsday, it is the story of a remarkable little boy -- seriously handicapped by recurrent and nearly fatal attacks of asthma -- and his struggle to manhood.
-
-
Did not like this one
- By Randall on 11-05-18
By: David McCullough
-
Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
-
-
That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
-
The Greater Journey
- Americans in Paris
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.
-
-
McCullough takes it to the next level
- By gregory m loyd on 07-12-11
By: David McCullough
-
The Path Between the Seas
- The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 31 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. McCullough expertly weaves the many strands of this momentous event into a captivating tale.
-
-
A Complete *MYSTERY*
- By Nicholas Robinson on 01-25-20
By: David McCullough
-
The Johnstown Flood
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon.
-
-
A page-turner! HIstory that reads like a novel
- By Susan K Donley on 06-17-05
By: David McCullough
-
The Wright Brothers
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
-
-
Great book
- By S. Thurman on 06-17-15
By: David McCullough
-
Mornings on Horseback
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the 1982 National Book Award for Biography, Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as a masterpiece by Newsday, it is the story of a remarkable little boy -- seriously handicapped by recurrent and nearly fatal attacks of asthma -- and his struggle to manhood.
-
-
Did not like this one
- By Randall on 11-05-18
By: David McCullough
-
Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
-
-
That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
-
The Greater Journey
- Americans in Paris
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.
-
-
McCullough takes it to the next level
- By gregory m loyd on 07-12-11
By: David McCullough
-
1776
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stirring audiobook, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.
-
-
Front Seat on History
- By Mark on 10-22-05
By: David McCullough
-
The Pioneers
- The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The number one New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal) - the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.
-
-
Left me wanting more!
- By Sandra on 05-16-19
By: David McCullough
-
John Adams
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 29 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
McCullough's John Adams has the sweep and vitality of a great novel. This is history on a grand scale, an audiobook about politics, war, and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, it is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.
-
-
Gasping for air.
- By PaddlerRich on 08-15-18
By: David McCullough
-
The Course of Human Events
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 15, 2003, David McCullough presented "The Course of Human Events" as The 2003 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities in Washington, DC. The Jefferson Lecture is a tribute to McCullough's lifetime investigation of history.
-
-
A Pitch for History
- By Alan on 09-13-05
By: David McCullough
-
Brave Companions
- Portraits in History
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of Truman and John Adams, David McCullough has written profiles of exceptional men and women past and present who have not only shaped the course of history or changed how we see the world but whose stories express much that is timeless about the human condition. Here are Alexander von Humboldt, whose epic explorations of South America surpassed the Lewis and Clark expedition; Harriet Beecher Stowe, "the little woman who made the big war”....
-
-
I USUALLY LOVE THIS GUY
- By Randall on 01-28-19
By: David McCullough
-
Alexander Hamilton
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
-
-
we've dealt with people like number 45 before
- By EvaPhiletaWright on 06-01-17
By: Ron Chernow
-
Team of Rivals
- The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 41 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.
-
-
Lincoln Comes Alive Through His Realtionships
- By Wolfpacker on 06-22-15
-
The American Spirit
- Who We Are and What We Stand For
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of his distinguished career, David McCullough has spoken before Congress, colleges and universities, historical societies, and other esteemed institutions. Now, at a time of self-reflection in America following a bitter election campaign that has left the country divided, McCullough has collected some of his most important speeches in a brief volume designed to identify important principles and characteristics that are particularly American.
-
-
It's college commencment day, most of the time.
- By Jordan Poer on 04-25-17
By: David McCullough
-
No Ordinary Time
- Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 39 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No Ordinary Time describes how the isolationist and divided United States of 1940 was unified under the extraordinary leadership of Franklin Roosevelt to become the preeminent economic and military power in the world.
-
-
Great at 1.5 speed
- By Brett on 01-04-13
-
The Devil in the White City
- Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death.
-
-
Impossible to stop listening
- By Michael on 05-26-12
By: Erik Larson
-
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.
-
-
My kinda founding father...mostly...
- By Brad Barker on 06-08-13
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Washington
- A Life
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 41 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
-
-
FANTASTIC!!
- By Roy on 03-15-11
By: Ron Chernow
Publisher's Summary
This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible.
So daring a concept as spanning the East River to join two great cities required vision and dedication of the kind that went into building Europe's great cathedrals. During 14 years of construction, the odds against success seemed overwhelming. Thousands of people were put to work. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, notorious political empires fell, and surges of public doubt constantly threatened the project. But the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge is not just the saga of an engineering miracle; it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time, replete with heroes and rascals who helped either to construct or to exploit the great enterprise.
The Great Bridge is also the story of a remarkable family, the Roeblings, who conceived and executed the audacious engineering plan at great personal cost. Without John Roebling's vision, his son Washington's skill and courage, and Washington's wife Emily's dedication, the bridge we know and cherish would never have been built.
Like the engineering marvel it describes, The Great Bridge, republished on the 40th anniversary of its initial publication, has stood the test of time.
Please note: The Great Bridge (Unabridged) is available for just one credit until June 20, 2012, after which point it will be priced at two credits.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about The Great Bridge
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ohad
- 09-02-15
Another Outstanding McCullough
I have already listened to "Truman", "The Wright Brothers", and "The Johnstown Flood". Obviously, I am a McCullough fan. Listening to a story written by him is like sitting down with a wise old man, (I imagine my own Grandfather), saying: "Sit down with me for a while, and I'm going to tell you a story so incredible, you won't believe it's real". This is certainly true of "The Great Bridge". Who knew that the story of a bridge being built could be so fascinating? McCullough's great strength, I believe, is his ability to paint a striking portrait of people and their unique time. This book will teleport you to Brooklyn in the 1870's. The descriptions of the people, places, and events provide a striking image of America at that time, and the audacity of the people involved in such a monumental undertaking. This text provides fascinating insight into Gilded Age politics, engineering know-how, and raw human emotion; both dazzling, and painful.
Although the engineering behind the bridge is expressed in layman's terms, I found myself on Google, looking at pictures from the period and technical drawings of "the great caisson"; the engineering masterpiece that is the foundation of the bridge. This is a complex piece of structural engineering that is difficult to understand without a visual. Nevertheless, drawings are readily available online, and I recommend a listener pause the story and look at those to get a better sense of how it all comes together. It is incredible to think that work began on the bridge in 1869, and that it's foundations are so strong that it has required virtually no maintenance since then. It's unbelievable to think that the people working on the bridge could never imagine that it would someday be used by automobiles, yet it is so well built, that only minimal changes had to be made to it when it was converted from trolley use to car use. The world of 1869 is so different from ours, yet the bridge remains relatively unchanged, and will likely remain so. That is its genius, and that is what makes it a monument to American ingenuity and imagination. To listen to this book is to truly understand the scale of such an undertaking--and the obsession of one man (Washington A. Roebling)--in its creation.
A word on the narrator:
Nelson Runger reads most of McCullough's works available on Audible. I first heard him read for "Truman". Since then, I associate his voice with that of Truman's own, and to some extent, with that of McCullough himself, even though the author does narrate "The Wright Brothers", such that I know McCullough's real voice. I find Runger to be a good match for such a long listen. his voice is expressive, and he can mimic the accent of the period (1869-1926) which is slightly different from our own. Now that McCullough is getting older, his own voice is quite rough, whereas Runger's is smooth and provides emphasis where needed. He pauses when appropriate, and shifts his inflection when reading for different characters. Although a text like this does not require such radical inflection shifts as does a work of fiction with lots of dialogue and many characters, I think you will find Runger an engaging listen.
I highly recommend this text.
57 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tim
- 06-01-12
An Historian and not a Novelist
I have to disagree to most of the negative reviews from other readers that have posted on The Great Bridge. David McCullough is a historian and not a novelist. He does not write stories with happy endings with complex plots. McCullough writes American history with proven facts.
That being said, The Great Bridge is an awesome story about our engineering, infrastructure, corruption, and American pride. The book is very interesting because it really happened and the Brooklyn Bridge is still standing after 129 years.
Even Hollywood takes tribute to the Brooklyn Bridge in movies. As the world freezes, or aliens conquer the planet, the bridge still stands as a symbol of pride.
I really hope that David McCullough will write on the Hoover Dam next. There are other authors that covered this topic, but I can only imagine that they are not complete.
60 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laurel
- 06-12-12
Pssst, Buddy. Wanna buy a bridge?
Any book by David McCullough lays out more material than most people want to hear. But he also tells you things you ever knew and you feel you should. Like, did you know that Brooklyn was the third largest city in the United States when this bridge was built? Or how important Brooklyn was because of it's Naval yards? Or that Brooklyn was more than a joke on radio quiz shows? And why then Yankees vs the Dodgers was such an intense rivalry?
I had read a bit about the Roebling family and that is took the entire family to get the bridge built. Yet I did not know enough to not be surprised at what I learned about other prominent characters of that time. It took a railway man to really know how important the bridge would be.
You will suffer with the Roeblings and the horrific death of the father. You will be astonished at their ignorance of the "bends." You will rejoice in their eventual triumph and gaze in awe at the opening day celebrations. At least, I did.
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Clare
- 04-12-13
The Great engineer vs the politicians!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Brooklyn Bridge, history or engineering.
What did you like best about this story?
It is a story of many hardworking people who had vision and perseverance. It was frustrating at times to listen to the book when it was describing the politicians and their obnoxious behavior. It made the chief engineer seem that much greater that he had to deal with their insulting and costly behavior. The chief engineer suffers the "bends" and long lasting consequences in which he has to direct the bridge building through letters he dictates to his wife. She is his eyes, ears, feet and takes the physical role he is unable to.
She is the heroine of the story.
What does Nelson Runger bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He has a firm fatherly voice that sounds as if he was there telling the story. He has feeling in his voice that communicates the suppressed anger of the engineer, the joy of the workers and onlookers, and the magic feeling of tying Brooklyn and New York together.
He has a tenderness when talking about the chief engineer's wife, who is essential to the story.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 06-10-12
A Tour de Force of Engineering and NY Politics
It is hard to imagine that a book of this length could be written about the building of a single bridge. Indeed, 1776, McCullogh's outstanding history of the revolutionary war, is a third the length. One must conclude that McCullogh became obsessed with the bridge and the people responsible for completing one of the most unique engineering feats of the 1800's. He did exhaustive research and was the first to explore the rich archives at RPI which provide many of the details. While I wish he had spent more time on the engineering and less time on the politics, I suspect many listeners will feel quite the opposite. Regardless, this is a great historical book, and it provides more insight into life in the late 1800s than any other book I have read.
I was very sorry when this amazing story ended.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kathy
- 05-17-12
The Great Bridge
Parts of this book are very interesting,,,, the rest - well you have to REALLY want to understand bridge engineering and NY politics
35 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jane
- 05-09-19
Good, but way too long
As a history major, there was much I loved about this book. That said, there were many times where I was groaning as the narrator listed yet another page or two or ten on wire specifications. Then there was the entire chapter dedicated to Emily Roebling about whom we had already learned way more than we needed to in relation to the actual subject, the Brooklyn Bridge. These are but two examples of the excess of information. It was an early book, so I will forgive the author. I have loved all the other books I've read by him.
I found the narration to be slow. Pauses were often so long that I would think I had lost my Audible connection.Upping the speed killed two birds with one stone here. I could still understand the narrator while getting through all the access information more quickly.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patrick James
- 08-02-19
Wonderful Story
What an amazing story! I recommend this to anyone interested in American history or history of science and technology. The characters and context are built in great depth and the engineering aspects are discussed carefully.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. M. Lawniczak
- 06-25-19
Very Detailed and Interesting
I really enjoyed this book. It is long, but it never bogged down. The minute details about the building of the bridge were interesting. Even detours into politics, e.g., Tammany Hall, were of interest. I particularly enjoyed the story thread about the bends and how medicine of the time approached the problem.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Edmond Nassim
- 03-11-13
A must read for every New Yorker
Where does The Great Bridge rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
The book ranks up there with the top books and is very informative.
What did you like best about this story?
Detail, detail, detail...about the engineers that built the bridge, the politicians, the way of life during the 870's, etc.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The tragedy that surrounded the Reobling's life.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tommy
- 02-28-17
A Magnificent Epic
A magnificent and epic work, beautifully narrated.
David McCullough's canvas extends much wider than the building of the iconic bridge, although that in itself is a fascinating story.
Equally if not more fascinating are the characters of John A. Roebling and his son Washington who respectively conceived and built it, and the colourful supporting cast whom they encountered along the way.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jan
- 01-31-15
Classic McCullough
An essential optimistic can do account of prototypical American can do attitude. Perhaps 20% too long winded, but still leaves the reader witj respecy for the acheibements of Toebæing sbd his associates
2 people found this helpful