Bridging the Straits: The Story of Mighty Mac

The project-the longest total suspension bridge in the world-would span the Starits of Mackinac where winds exceed eighty miles an hour and ice windrows reach a height of forty feet. It would connect two largely rural communities with a combined population of less than four thousand and would require the largest bond issue ever proposed for the construction of a bridge. Little wonder that some Wall Street investors labeled the proposition as ludicrous. Nonetheless, the Mackinac Bridge became a reality.

Lawrence A. Rubin, executive secretary of the Mackinac Bridge Authority from 1950 to 1983, pulls no punches with this lively and absorbing account of who tried to torpedo the project and who was responsible for its success.