Narratives of Large Scale Engineering
1. 
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
by:
David McCullough
4.25 avg rating — 18,112 ratings 2. 
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
by:
Ross King
3.91 avg rating — 27,849 ratings 3. 
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
by:
David McCullough
4.22 avg rating — 22,134 ratings 
5. 
6. 
Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's
by:
R.A. Scotti
3.99 avg rating — 2,423 ratings 7. 
Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-69 3.99 avg rating — 13,754 ratings
8. 
Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages
by:
Frances Gies
3.88 avg rating — 925 ratings 
10. 
Eiffel's Tower and the World's Fair: Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count
by:
Jill Jonnes
3.78 avg rating — 3,318 ratings 11. 
The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the Bridge on the River Kwai
by:
Julie Summers
4.23 avg rating — 86 ratings 12. 
13. 
Taj Mahal: A Love Affair at the Heart of the Moghul Empire
by:
Diana Preston
3.90 avg rating — 674 ratings 14. 
Old London Bridge: The Story of the Longest Inhabited Bridge in Europe
by:
Patricia Pierce
4.03 avg rating — 89 ratings 15. 
Power Along the Hudson: The Storm King Case and the Birth of Environmentalism
by:
Allan R. Talbot
3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings 16. 
23. 
Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels
by:
Jill Jonnes
3.96 avg rating — 835 ratings 
26. 
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, Madness, at the Fair that Changed America
by:
Erik Larson
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 739,788 ratings 27. 
God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain
by:
Rosemary Hill
4.17 avg rating — 105 ratings 28. 
The Ancient Mariners: Seafarers and Sea Fighters of the Mediterranean in Ancient Times
by:
Lionel Casson
3.85 avg rating — 124 ratings 29. 
Mountains of the Pharaohs: The Untold Story of the Pyramid Builders
by:
Zahi Hawass
3.62 avg rating — 225 ratings 30. 
33. 
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
by:
Robert A. Caro
4.52 avg rating — 27,075 ratings 34. 
The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC - AD 2000
by:
Julia Lovell
3.46 avg rating — 331 ratings 
36. 
The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom
by:
Simon Winchester
3.84 avg rating — 4,777 ratings 37. 
The Chrysler Building: Creating a New York Icon, Day by Day
by:
David Stravitz
4.56 avg rating — 39 ratings 
39. 
The Fires of Excellence: Spanish and Portuguese Oriental Architecture
by:
Miles Danby
3.43 avg rating — 7 ratings 
41. 
No One Had a Tongue to Speak: The Untold Story of One of History's Deadliest Floods
by:
Utpal Sandesara
4.25 avg rating — 44 ratings 
41. 
City in the Sky: The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center
by:
James Glanz
4.18 avg rating — 190 ratings 
41. 
The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
by:
Earl Swift
3.90 avg rating — 1,858 ratings 
47. 
Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center
by:
Daniel Okrent
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 404 ratings 47. 
Trapped Under the Sea: One Engineering Marvel, Five Men, and a Disaster Ten Miles Into the Darkness
by:
Neil Swidey
4.04 avg rating — 2,449 ratings 
51. 
Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal
by:
Zachary Karabell
3.75 avg rating — 197 ratings 51. 
THE BRIGHTEST ARM OF THE SAVANNAH: The Augusta Canal 1845-2000.
by:
Edward J. Cashin
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating 
55. 
A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable 3.96 avg rating — 565 ratings
55. 
Heaven's Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal
by:
Jack Kelly
3.49 avg rating — 573 ratings 60. 
Designing the Bayous: The Control of Water in the Atchafalaya Basin, 1800-1995 (Volume 4) (Gulf Coast Books, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
by:
Martin Reuss
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings 61. 
The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose with It 3.71 avg rating — 199 ratings
61. 
Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay's Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought It Down
by:
Bill DeYoung
4.33 avg rating — 168 ratings 64. 
Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation 3.81 avg rating — 599 ratings
64. 
Building St Cuthbert's Shrine: Durham Cathedral and the Life of Prior Turgot
by:
Lionel Green
4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings 66. 
Builders: Herman and George R. Brown (Kenneth E. Montague Series in Oil and Business History)
by:
Joseph A. Pratt
4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings 66. 
Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture
by:
Mabel O. Wilson
4.26 avg rating — 19 ratings 68. 
A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States
by:
Steven Ujifusa
4.29 avg rating — 385 ratings 
68. 
Battle for Ground Zero: Inside the Political Struggle to Rebuild the World Trade Center 3.72 avg rating — 67 ratings
71. 
“When All of Rome Was Under Construction”: The Building Process in Baroque Rome 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings
71. 
73. 
The Finest Building in America: The New York Crystal Palace, 1853-1858
by:
Edwin G. Burrows
3.58 avg rating — 38 ratings 
75. 
Building the World: An Encyclopedia of the Great Engineering Projects in History (2 Volumes)
by:
Frank Davidson
3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings 75. 
Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl
by:
Richard Moe
3.73 avg rating — 30 ratings 
78. 
The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA
by:
Diane Vaughan
4.09 avg rating — 436 ratings 78. 
Paris Reborn: Napoléon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City 3.73 avg rating — 516 ratings
81. 
On a Grander Scale: The Outstanding Life and Tumultuous Times of Sir Christopher Wren
by:
Lisa Jardine
3.64 avg rating — 95 ratings 
83. 
Bricks & Mortals: Ten Great Buildings and the People They Made
by:
Tom Wilkinson
3.76 avg rating — 93 ratings 
87. 
Crossing the River: The History of London's Thames River Bridges from Richmond to the Tower
by:
Brian Cookson
4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings 87. 
Where We Want to Live: Reclaiming Infrastructure for a New Generation of Cities
by:
Ryan Gravel
3.81 avg rating — 270 ratings 89. 
City on the Verge: Atlanta and the Fight for America's Urban Future
by:
Mark Pendergrast
3.86 avg rating — 288 ratings 90. 
96. 
Mound Sites of the Ancient South: A Guide to the Mississippian Chiefdoms
by:
Eric E. Bowne
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 24 ratings 97. 
The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America
by:
George R. Milner
3.96 avg rating — 141 ratings 
100. 
A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial
by:
James Reston Jr.
4.12 avg rating — 256 ratings