The Gate is an absorbing panoramic account of the building of one of the world's most beautiful and famous landmarks. In a narrative richly laden with detail and the flavor of the period, John van der Zee reveals for the first time the complete history of the longest single-span suspension bridge of its time�including the identity of the man who actually designed it, which has been obscured since its completion in 1937. With novelistic flair, van der Zee recounts an exciting drama of human greed, ambition, frailty, courage, and intellectual achievement."It is among the top books on California I have ever read."�Kevin Starr, State Librarian of California and author of Americans and the California Dream"A case study of personal and technological adventure bordering on hubris...The engineers in this bok come alive as people, with all the faults and foibles associated iwth the human species. A fascinating work that shows that the best of cutting-edge engineering is much, much more than science and technology."�Henri Petroski, Nature