From engineering marvels (the Panama Canal, the Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge) to masterpieces like Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater—not to mention the oil rig, the commercial airliner, the MRI machine, and the telephone—here are 76 of the most intriguing, important, and ingenious inventions realized in America. The author of Paradise Alley and Luna Park and a contributing editor at Harper's, Kevin Baker introduces the tinkerers and inventors who dreamed up such revolutionary structures and devices, as well as the complications they had to overcome. His entertaining, highly browsable book also explains how these creations work, with illustrative drawings throughout.