BRIDGES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
A pictorial list of 50 spans, Graf's album exalts both famous and utterly obscure bridges. By including rope bridges in Nepal, and the newest suspension bridge giants in Japan and Denmark, the author underscores the commonality to any bridge's purpose: vaulting chasms and straits to link people and commerce. Florence's famous Ponte Vecchio, with the shops built onto its spans, expresses the idea literally, while other celebrated bridges do so symbolically, like the now-destroyed Stari Most in Mostar, Bosnia. Whatever a bridge's exact physical purpose, it also exudes a powerful aesthetic presence that Graf handsomely displays: the book's design faces a one-page historical description with a full-page photograph, with an oblong format enhancing the feeling of length.