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    A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States
    A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States
    A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States
    Audiobook13 hours

    A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States

    Written by Steven Ujifusa

    Narrated by Pete Larkin

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    About this audiobook

    At the peak of his power, in the 1940s and 1950s, William Francis Gibbs was considered America's best naval architect. His quest to build the finest, fastest, most beautiful ocean liner of his time, the S.S. United States, was a topic of national fascination. When completed in 1952, the ship was hailed as a technological masterpiece at a time when "made in America" meant the best.Gibbs was an American original, on par with John Roebling of the Brooklyn Bridge and Frank Lloyd Wright of Fallingwater. Forced to drop out of Harvard following his family's sudden financial ruin, he overcame debilitating shyness and lack of formal training to become the visionary creator of some of the finest ships in history. He spent forty years dreaming of the ship that became the S.S. United States.William Francis Gibbs was driven, relentless, and committed to excellence. He loved his ship, the idea of it, and the realization of it, and he devoted himself to making it the epitome of luxury travel during the triumphant post-World War II era. Biographer Steven Ujifusa brilliantly describes the way Gibbs worked and how his vision transformed an industry. A Man and His Ship is a tale of ingenuity and enterprise, a truly remarkable journey on land and sea.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 17, 2012
    ISBN9781452679877
    Author

    Steven Ujifusa

    Steven Ujifusa received his AB in history from Harvard University and a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. His first book, A Man and His Ship, tells the story of William Francis Gibbs, the naval architect who created the ocean liner SS United States; The Wall Street Journal named it one of the best nonfiction titles of 2012. His new book, Barons of the Sea, brings to life the dynasties that built and owned the magnificent clipper ships of America’s nineteenth-century-era of maritime glory. Steven has given presentations across the country and on the high seas, and has appeared as guest on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR. A recipient of a MacDowell Colony fellowship and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia’s Literary Award, he lives with his wife, a pediatric emergency room physician, in Philadelphia. Read more about him at StevenUjifusa.com. 

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    Reviews for A Man and His Ship

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      The title of this book is very much truth in advertising, as one gets the life story of the great American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and his dream to see the greatest ocean liner in the world fly the American flag; the dream being realized in the form of the S.S. "United States." Much of this story is a parable of salvage, as Gibbs preserved his dreams after his father's business interests collapsed, and molded himself into the sort of person who could achieve his dreams. This is also a history of the pursuit of the so-called "Blue Riband;" the international competition to build the fastest North Atlantic liner in the world. This book makes it very clear that this was the sort of race one only pursued with a national government at one's back, as many of these efforts were really not cost effective; particularly after such body blows to the industry as the suppression of mass migration to the United States, World War I, and the Great Depression. If I have a particular gripe it's that Ujifusa does becomes bogged down in personal anecdote at times, but this is still a good introduction to a bygone time and a great American technologist.
    • 4/5
      Given the very narrow topic of the book, one would (fearfully) expect a boring narrative on ships. Instead, the author has delivered a highly engaging and informative story of the great age of ocean liners, and one man and one ship in particular. The first half of the book is the build-up to the triumph of the "United States", the (arguably) most graceful and fastest cruise liner ever built. Even if you're not a fan of ships, cruises or even the water for that matter, it's a wonderful, heart warming, yet bitter-sweet story. Well worth a read. It's made me want to join the conservation society.