Boulder Dam Lib/E

Zane Grey is at his best in this story of the building of the Boulder Dam, later renamed the Hoover Dam. Straddling the great Colorado River, a huge structure is slowly rising--a dam that will alter the course of this ravaging river and harness its awesome power. Men from all over America have flocked to the site, laboring at the dam by day and filling the nearby Las Vegas gambling houses by night. To Lynn Weston, a rich man's son, working on the dam means independence and the chance to prove his courage. But an even greater challenge faces Lynn: he discovers a girl who has escaped her abductors in the back seat of his car and becomes her self-appointed protector. Suddenly, he finds himself threatened by a pack of ruthless gangsters with a vicious plan to blow up the dam.

About the Author :
The prolific American writer Zane Grey was the pioneer of the Western literary genre. Grey produced well over 100 books, in which he presented the West as a moral battleground, where his characters were either destroyed or redeemed. His semi-outlaw heroes were his most enduring creation. He sold some 17 million books during his lifetime, and an estimated 100 Hollywood Western films have been based on his stories. Born with the name Pearl Grey in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1872, Zane was the son of a farmer and part-time preacher. His mother was a second-generation Danish Quaker. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in dentistry in 1896 and practiced in New York City until 1904. That year, Grey wrote and self-published his first book, Betty Zane, after it was turned down by several publishers. The colorful frontier story was based on his mother's journal and eventually became a critical success. He married Lina Elise Roth, who encouraged him to become a full-time professional writer. In 1908, Grey made a journey to the West with Colonel C. J. "Buffalo" Jones, who told him tales of adventure on the plains. This trip turned out to be a turning point in Grey's career. In 1912, Riders of the Purple Sage was published. It sold 2 million copies and was filmed three times. Grey's formula-in which a mysterious outlaw fights to protect the innocent and the good-shows up in many of his novels. In 1918, he moved to Altadena, California, where he lived for the rest of his life. Grey died on October 23, 1939. John Traven, Earphones Award-winning narrator, is an actor who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Review :
"[Bolder Dam], the spectacular vision which became a reality in the early '30's and which inspired Lynn Weston, a rich man's son, to 'earn a living in overalls.' All the on-the-job dangers are doubled by a gangster gang who want to sabotage the project and also engage in white slavery." -- "Kirkus Reviews"