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1935 · ref. 28798 — New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. Near Fine. 1935. First Edition. Hardcover. no dust jacket sharp-looking copy nice and clean with very slight wear to a couple of corners and a tiny white stain at the bottom edge of the rear cover; one-time owner's name and date of purchase written at top of front pastedown. Novel centered around the building of a mighty dam in the American west to tame the waters of a mighty river. Obviously inspired by the construction of Hoover Dam which was dedicated and already functional although not 100% completed on September 30 1935 the novel was not especially well-reviewed one reviewer called it "a hodge-podge so bewildering and repetitious that the plot becomes inarticulate although the power of its imagery and the treatment of details attendant to the construction of the dam were generally recognized. One reviewer perhaps nailed its problems when he wrote that "in this story the individuals are unimportant but the canyon the treacherous river and the toil of men to conquer both are engrossing." Another commented that the authors "write like engineers"; I don't think it was intended as a compliment. The authors had both done some screenwriting and according to several reviews they had collaborated on the script for HELL DIVERS 1932 -- but the only problem with that "fact" is that although the movie was based on an original story by Wead River isn't among the film's half-dozen or so contributing writers. It's . Frederick A. Stokes Company hardcover books