Building the Hoover Dam led the America and the world out of the Great Depression. See life through the eyes of farmers, hustlers, bricklayers, businessmen, politicians, whores and truck drivers who built the Dam, then traveled 21 miles on Death's Highway, to Sin City, Las Vegas where legal gambling, whorehouses and cold beer awaited. The Hoover Dam began with the death of worker John G. Tierney, December 20th 1922, and ended with the death of his son Patrick W. Tierney, December 20th 1935, exactly thirteen years to the day in the same river, working on the Hoover Dam. From Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt, seven American Presidents were personally involved in the building of the Dam. Larger than the Pyramids, more complex than the Great Wall of China, the Hoover Dam helped populate the western United States. America became the bread basket of the world. This dam controls floods and drought in seven states, provides electricity, fresh drinking water to irrigate 1/4 million square miles of new farm land. The weight of the water behind the dam moved planet earth a fraction out of balance.
About the Author: Dov Silverman is the author of the FALL OF THE SHOGUN five-book historical series that appeared on the London Times Best-Seller List and was also published in German, Polish and Hebrew. He won a 1988 Suntory Mystery Fiction Award in Japan for REVENGE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERDS; Published in Japanese was Writer-in-Residence at Christian Brothers University, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 1995; was a teacher at Writer's Digest Magazine Correspondence School, 1994-1997. THE KABBALIST (MYSTICISM) in English2007, Romainian 2009, Spanish 2012. Dov (Robert) Silverman is the ninth generation on his mother's side born in Brooklyn, New York. After 3 years as a US Marine in the Korean War, he worked as a Long Island Railroad conductor, an auctioneer, and he established Autar Microfilm Service. While working nights on the Railroad and studying full-time days, he earned his high school diploma and went on to graduate from Stony Brook University, Long Island, New York, cum laude, at the age of 39. Dov credits a spiritual meeting with God and a Tzaddik (righteous man), Jules Rubinstein, in the Brentwood (New York) Jewish Center, with setting him on the path of study, religious involvement and settlement in Israel. The family, including children Barbara (now the mother of Anav, former officer in the Israel Defense Forces, now finishing her M.A. in psychology at Bar Ilan. Loriel is 17 and finishing high school next year. Jeff Silverman, Dov and Janet's son died of leukemia in 1979 at the age of 18. The family settled in Safed in 1972. In Safed, Dov taught English as a Second Language, was a high school principal, lecturer on teaching methods, a supervisor of English teachers, and taught Creative Writing at Universities in Israel and the United States. He served 4 years as a Safed City Councilman. His wife, Janet, was his editor and helpmate throughout their 50 years together. Janet passed three years ago.