{"product_id":"the-pentagon-a-history-isbn-9780812973259","title":"The Pentagon: A History","description":"The creation of the Pentagon in seventeen whirlwind months during World War II is one of the great construction feats in American history, involving a tremendous mobilization of manpower, resources, and minds. In astonishingly short order, Brigadier General Brehon B. Somervell conceived and built an institution that ranks with the White House, the Vatican, and a handful of other structures as symbols recognized around the world. Now veteran military reporter Steve Vogel reveals for the first time the remarkable story of the Pentagon’s construction, from it’s dramatic birth to its rebuilding after the September 11 attack. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the center of the story is the tempestuous but courtly Somervell–“dynamite in a Tiffany box,” as he was once described. In July 1941, the Army construction chief sprang the idea of building a single, huge headquarters that could house the entire War Department, then scattered in seventeen buildings around Washington. Somervell ordered drawings produced in one weekend and, despite a firestorm of opposition, broke ground two months later, vowing that the building would be finished in little more than a year. Thousands of workers descended on the site, a raffish Virginia neighborhood known as Hell’s Bottom, while an army of draftsmen churned out designs barely one step ahead of their execution. Seven months later the first Pentagon employees skirted seas of mud to move into the building and went to work even as construction roared around them. The colossal Army headquarters helped recast Washington from a sleepy southern town into the bustling center of a reluctant empire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVivid portraits are drawn of other key figures in the drama, among them Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president who fancied himself an architect; Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, both desperate for a home for the War Department as the country prepared for battle; Colonel Leslie R. Groves, the ruthless force of nature who oversaw the Pentagon’s construction (as well as the Manhattan Project to create an atomic bomb); and John McShain, the charming and dapper builder who used his relationship with FDR to help land himself the contract for the biggest office building in the world. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Pentagon’s post-World War II history is told through its critical moments, including the troubled birth of the Department of Defense during the Cold War, the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the tumultuous 1967 protest against the Vietnam War. The pivotal attack on September 11 is related with chilling new detail, as is the race to rebuild the damaged Pentagon, a restoration that echoed the spirit of its creation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis study of a single enigmatic building tells a broader story of modern American history, from the eve of World War II to the new wars of the twenty-first century. Steve Vogel has crafted a dazzling work of military social history that merits comparison with the best works of David Halberstam or David McCullough. Like its namesake, \u003ci\u003eThe Pentagon\u003c\/i\u003e is a true landmark. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Among books dealing with seemingly impossible engineering feats, this easily ranks with David McCullough’s \u003ci\u003eThe Great Bridge \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Path Between the Seas\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as Ross King’s \u003ci\u003eBrunelleschi’s Dome\u003c\/i\u003e.\" -\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e (Starred Review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Vogel artfully weaves architectural and cultural history, thus creating a brilliant and illuminating study of this singular (and, in many ways, sacred) American space.\" -\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (Starred Review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"An amazing story, expertly researched and beautifully told. Part history, part adventure yarn, \u003ci\u003eThe Pentagon\u003c\/i\u003e is above all else the biography of an American icon.\" -\u003cb\u003eRick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of \u003ci\u003eAn Army at Dawn\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"This book, like the Pentagon itself, is a stunning and monumental achievement.\" \u003cb\u003e–Andrew Carroll, editor of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestsellers, \u003ci\u003eWar Letters\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBehind the Lines\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Superb! Not only the best biography of a building ever written, but a fascinating look at the human architecture behind the Pentagon--the saints and scoundrels of our national defense. With his decades of experience covering the military and a web of insider connections, Steve Vogel has produced a book that's not only timely and a treat to read, but a stellar example of how to write history in the twenty-first century.\" -\u003cb\u003eRalph Peters, author of \u003ci\u003eNever Quit The Fight\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“This concrete behemoth – the largest office building in the world – is also the product of considerable human ingenuity and resourcefulness, as Steve Vogel amply demonstrates in his interesting account…  This is not, of course, the first account of the [9\/11] attack, but with its Clancyesque action and firsthand detail… it is surely the most vivid.” — Witold Rybczynski, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e , June 10, 2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Vogel's account shines . . . . [A]n engrossing and revealing account. . . . Vogel provides a first-rate account of the transformation of a dilapidated Arlington neighborhood into what Norman Mailer called \"the true and high church of the military industrial complex.\"  -- Yonatan Lupu, \u003ci\u003eThe San Francisco Chronicle,\u003c\/i\u003e June 10, 2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The saga of the construction of the Pentagon, skillfully recounted by Steve\u003cbr\u003eVogel, a military reporter on the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, is as enthralling as it\u003cbr\u003eis improbable. . . . It was one of the greatest en","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303462228197,"sku":"NP9780812973259","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780812973259.jpg?v=1767740918","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-pentagon-a-history-isbn-9780812973259","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}