Men of Steel: The Story of the Family That Built the World Trade Center

Rating:
Summary: AN EDUCATION IN LIFE AS WELL AS THE CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS
Review: As a contractor/developer in the Baltimore area who shares the same last name and German heritage, but is no relation, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could not put it down. It was as much an education of the New York contracting industry as it was a history of one family's trials and tribulations.
I enjoyed this book so much that I bought 15 copies and gave them to family and friends as Christmas presents. Each review from the recipients mirrored my enjoyment. I would highly recommend this book to anyone even if they have no conception of the contracting industry.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, But Know What You're Getting
Review: Subtitles that promise more than the book delivers are far more common than they ought to be. This book is a refreshing exception to that pattern. It's subtitled "the story of the family that built the World Trade Center," and that's *exactly* what you get. _Men of Steel_ is the story of the rise and fall of a family construction company and the stormy relationships among the men who built it. Koch treats both sides of the story--family and business--honestly and in detail, and the results are gripping. It hits many of the same notes as John Steinbeck's _East of Eden_, Arthur Miller's _Death of a Salesman_, or Ken Kesey's _Sometimes a Great Notion_... but in _Men of Steel_ you know that the narrator's pain (both physical and emotional) is real.

You learn a lot about ironworking in this book: About how the steel frames of buildings are put together, and about how the tools and techniques have changed over time. You also learn a lot about construction management: Estimating costs, writing bids, dealing with suppliers and unions, and keeping things running smoothly on the building site. Koch writes from the manager's perspective more than the workers, but there are other books (say, Mike Cherry's _On High Steel_) to give you that. Even dedicated civil engineering buffs are likely to learn a lot from Koch and Firstman's sure-footed narrative. The chapter (or so) on "kangaroo cranes" alone is worth the price of the book.

Koch and Firstman also give a unique view of *one* aspect of the World Trade Center project: How the framing and flooring was erected and what the process did for (and to) the company. They reveal things about that aspect of the process that no other book does--much of it critically important. This is exactly the right approach to take: ironwork is Koch's (and his family's) business, it's what he knows, and it's what the rest of the book is about. It means, however, that _Men of Steel_ is *not* a book about "the building of the World Trade Center." Rather, it's a book in which the ironwork that went into the World Trade Center is one of several key threads.

The epilogue, dealing with the 9/11 attacks and the collapse of the Twin Towers deserves special notice. It is short, concise, and unflinchingly honest: a model of how we *ought* to learn from the unexpected failures of less-than-perfect structures. If I could figure out how to do it, I'd make those 15 pages required reading for the engineers-in-training that I teach. They could have far, far worse role models than Karl Koch III.

How much you like this book will depend a great deal on what you want to get out of it. If you want THE book on the building of the World Trade Center, you may well be disapprounted. If you want a great family saga, a great business story, or a gripping insider's history of ironworking in America (including the WTC), you may well have a hard time putting _Men of Steel_ down.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read-Fascinating story of an American icon
Review: Very easy to read, You are easily caught up in a family's struggle to survive a new life in a new world. It is easy to admire their spirit and determination to make it as they build their company from the ground up.
They consistently remain true to the values of hard work and honesty while truly living the American Dream. It makes the World Trade Center even more of an american symbol.
The facts regarding how they built the trade center and how they even received the job are fascinating in of themselves. The author's personal family struggle only make it more amazing that it ever happened at all.