This is the story of how our modern world was forged - in rivets, grease and steam; in blood, sweat and human imagination. feats of engineering. Deborah Cadbury explores the history behind the epic monuments that spanned the industrial revolution, from Brunel's extraordinary Great Eastern ship - the Titanic of its day that joined the two ends of the empire - to the Panama Canal, that linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans half a century later. industrial age, their burning ambition, extravagant dreams, passion and rivalry as great minds clashed. These include: Arthur Powell-Davis, the engineer behind the Hoover dam, who dreamed of creating the largest dam in the world by diverting the entire Colorado river; and John Roebling and his son Washington who both lost their lives creating the longest suspension bridge ever built, the Brooklyn bridge. There are also the stories of countless unsung heroes - the craftsmen and workers without whose perseverance nothing would have been achieved. to mention financiers and shareholders hanging on for the ride as fortunes Alps to the mosquito-ridden wilds of the central American jungle as we see uncontrollable rivers tamed, continents conquered and vast oceans joined.