Good guys, wise guys, and putting up buildings
Subtitle: a life in construction
By: Samuel C. Florman
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 358
ISBN-13: 9780312641672
Subjects: Buildings, structures; Construction industry; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs; Contractors; Civil engineers; Biography; History
Description: "Starting in the Navy Seabees at the end of WWII, Samuel C. Florman made his way as a general contractor in New York City through the period of explosive development, private exuberance and the historic growth of publicly supported housing--all amidst the rise of the notorious Mafia families, and evolution of the Civil Rights Movement. His storied career brought him into contact with a variety of personalities: politicians and civil servants, developers and technocrats, saintly do-gooders, and corrupt rapscallions. Along with the rousing adventures there were satisfactions of a different sort: the enchantment of seeing architecture made real; the pride of creating housing, hospitals, schools, places of worship--shelter for the body and nourishment for the spirit"--