The Great Miscalculation - by Michael M Greenburg (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The Great Miscalculation is the compelling true story of a structural engineering crisis and one man's confrontation with principle - both mathematical and ethical. It is the story of a moral dilemma that threatened a building, a career, and the lives of countless, unsuspecting New Yorkers"--

Book Synopsis

How an engineering crisis threatened a career, a building, and the lives of countless New Yorkers

The Citicorp Center, a fifty-nine-story skyscraper built in 1977, immediately became one of the most recognizable features on the New York City skyline with its distinctive inclined roof and oddly placed support columns. Designed by one of the top structural engineers in the field, William LeMessurier, the tower would become the crown jewel of his professional career; In essence, he created a skyscraper on stilts. The building was a modern marvel - until it was revealed that it had a 1 in 16 chance of collapse.

The Great Miscalculation tells the riveting story of LeMessurier's discovery of a fatal flaw in his building's design and his decision to blow the whistle on himself, putting his reputation on the line in a race to save this iconic skyscraper. With hurricane season rapidly approaching, the structural design flaws of the Citicorp Tower posed a menacing danger. Meanwhile, the economic hardships and political turmoil of 1970s New York only compounded the obstacles to a massively expensive, never-before-seen structural redesign in the heart of downtown Manhattan.

A fascinating piece of overlooked New York City history, The Great Miscalculation tells the gripping narrative of a catastrophe averted in the nick of time.

Review Quotes

"A compelling tale of professional and business responsibility amid the uncertainties of technological innovation."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"This masterly account reveals the full scope of a sequence of events that could have ended in catastrophe. It's a work of scholarship that gives the story its ultimate form, a soaring drama built on a foundation of scrupulously reported facts, and that solves an intriguing mystery in the process."--Joe Morgenstern, former film critic for the Wall Street Journal

"This riveting whodunit set in the chaos of 1970s Manhattan is also an astonishing meditation on the ethical obligations of those who build our cities....The narrative deftly navigates the crisis, secretive repairs, and subsequent litigation, heroic efforts that were largely concealed from the public. When the story does emerge, fifteen years later, we struggle along with LeMessurier as he decides whether to do the right thing or protect his career and reputation. It's a compelling story, masterfully told."--Judith Dupré, New York Times bestselling author of Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Extraordinary Buildings

"Brings the full, gripping story of the Citicorp Center to life with a compelling blend of technical insight and drama. Greenburg's writing powerfully conveys the courage and humility required to right a wrong."--Grady Hillhouse, author of Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment

About the Author

Michael M. Greenburg is a practicing attorney and former member and editor of the Pepperdine Law Review. He is the author of This Noble Woman, Myrtilla Miner and her Fight to Establish a School for African American Girls in the Slaveholding South, The Court-Martial of Paul Revere: A Son of Liberty & America's Forgotten Military Disaster, The Mad Bomber of New York: The Extraordinary True Story of the Manhunt that Paralyzed a City, and Peaches and Daddy: A Story of the Roaring 20's, the Birth of Tabloid Media, and the Courtship that Captured the Heart and Imagination of the American Public.