The Pentagon: A History (Inscribed First Edition, First Printing)

Vogel, Steve

ISBN 10: 1400063035 / ISBN 13: 9781400063031

Published by Random House, 2007

About this Item

Inscribed First Edition, First Printing of this comprehensive history of the development and construction of the Pentagon, the massive post World War II home of the U.S. Department of Defense, which also extensively covers the reconstruction of the Pentagon following the September 11, 2001 attack on the building. Inscribed by Steve Vogel to a previous owner on the title page. 626 pages, illustrated. Minimal sign of previous use. Seller Inventory # 004151

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Pentagon: A History (Inscribed First ...

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: 2007

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

The creation of the Pentagon in seventeen whirlwind months during World War II is one of the great construction feats in American history, involving a tremendous mobilization of manpower, resources, and minds. In astonishingly short order, Brigadier General Brehon B. Somervell conceived and built an institution that ranks with the White House, the Vatican, and a handful of other structures as symbols recognized around the world. w veteran military reporter Steve Vogel reveals for the first time the remarkable story of the Pentagon s construction, from it s dramatic birth to its rebuilding after the September 11 attack. At the center of the story is the tempestuous but courtly Somervell-dynamite in a Tiffany box, as he was once described. In July 1941, the Army construction chief sprang the idea of building a single, huge headquarters that could house the entire War Department, then scattered in seventeen buildings around Washington. Somervell ordered drawings produced in one weekend and, despite a firestorm of opposition, broke ground two months later, vowing that the building would be finished in little more than a year. Thousands of workers descended on the site, a raffish Virginia neighborhood known as Hell s Bottom, while an army of draftsmen churned out designs barely one step ahead of their execution. Seven months later the first Pentagon employees skirted seas of mud to move into the building and went to work even as construction roared around them. The colossal Army headquarters helped recast Washington from a sleepy southern town into the bustling center of a reluctant empire. Vivid portraits are drawn of other key figures in the drama, among them Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president who fancied himself an architect; Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, both desperate for a home for the War Department as the country prepared for battle; Colonel Leslie R. Groves, the ruthless force of nature who oversaw

Product Description:

A veteran journalist describes the design and construction of the Pentagon, one of the world's most distinctive buildings, during World War II, the subsequent history of the building and its role during key historical events, the devastating September 11th attack and its aftermath, and the massive efforts to rebuild the structure in the wake of the disaster. 50,000 first printing.