"A bridge shouldn't just fall down," Senator Amy Klobuchar said after the August 1, 2007, collapse of Minneapolis's I-35W eight-lane steel arch bridge, which killed thirteen motorists and left a collective wound on the city's psyche and infrastructure. On her way to soccer practice with a fellow teammate, Kimberly J. Brown experienced the harrowing collapse firsthand. Fortunately, she was one of the survivors. In The I-35W Bridge Collapse, Brown combines memoir and expose to provide a full account of the I-35W bridge collapse and its aftermath. Weaving together multiple linked narratives in continuous sections like an unbroken bridge deck, Brown recounts her harrowing personal account of the collapse of the bridge and the deaths of thirteen motorists who plunged 114 feet into the Mississippi River; her own injury, trauma, and healing through advocacy; her investigation and correspondence with Thornton Tomasetti engineers; the false official account of the collapse and the eventual acceptance of its real causes; the ongoing decay of America's bridges; and the continuing failure of leaders to address this widespread issue across the country. After nearly ten years of research, Brown can now answer the question that had been haunting her ever since the tragedy: what could've been done? This is the story of what happened to Brown, how it changed her life and so many others, and how it didn't have to happen.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Amid her firsthand account of survival and recovery, Brown weaves in tales about her quest to learn the real reason the bridge fell. She read countless documents and inspection reports and consulted with bridge experts. She discovered that bent gusset plates and design error, the original reasons given for the collapse, weren't the full story. Rusted bearings and a failed superstructure contributed to the collapse. In case you don't know what that means, the IT technical writer boils down the complex subject of bridge construction and their components and presents them in terms that an average citizen can understand."-Tim Harlow, Star Tribune "In her riveting memoir The I-35W Bridge Collapse: A Survivor's Account of American's Crumbling Infrastructure . . . Brown combines her personal story with clear technical explanations of how bridges are constructed and inspectors' reports that were not acted on."-Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities Pioneer Press "All over the country people were shocked and horrified as we watched the bridge fall. Most of us went on with our lives, but Kimberly Brown's first-person account as witness and survivor of the bridge collapse takes us deep into the emotional terrain of that day, and the years that followed; she also shares with her readers her investigation into the causes. A riveting story, powerfully told."-Deborah Keenan, creative writing program faculty emeritus at Hamline University and author of Willow Room, Green Door: New and Selected Poems
"This is the most important book you will read this year. Kimberly Brown gets us by the collar and doesn't let us turn away, writing with lyric power about her experience surviving the I-35W bridge collapse. Her urgent search for the truth behind the 2007 collapse is mirrored by her own collapse and a revelatory portrait of living with PTSD. . . . How she repairs and what she uncovers will, justly, keep you up at night."-Patricia Weaver Francisco, author of Telling: A Memoir of Rape and Recovery
"Brown tells an honest and compelling story. . . . Throughout, Brown makes a passionate plea to lawmakers and citizens nationwide to pay attention to our country's deteriorating bridges."-Lynne Diebel, author of Crossing the Driftless
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Produkt-Hinweis
Fadenheftung
Gewebe-Einband
Illustrationen
Maße
Höhe: 242 mm
Breite: 196 mm
Dicke: 24 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-61234-977-0 (9781612349770)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Kimberly J. Brown (B.A., University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 1998) is a freelance and technical writer. On August 1, 2007, she was one of the 180 people who was on the I-35W bridge when it collapsed. She is now an outspoken advocate for survivors and victims of the collapsed bridge.
List of Illustrations
Preface
The I-35W Bridge Collapse
Acknowledgments
Shall We Gather
Remember the 13
Bibliography
