TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 411 Claudius Crozet: French Engineer in America, 1790—1864. By Robert F. Hunter and Edwin L. Dooley, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989. Pp. x + 224; illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $25.00. This book chronicles a career that embraced both military and civil engineering, scholarship, and practice, in both Europe and America. Claudius Crozet was born in France in 1790 and in 1805 entered the prestigious École Polytechnique where he was taught by Monge, Fourier, Prony, and Poisson. On entering the army he was assigned to Napoleon’s headquarters and served in Holland, Germany, and Russia, gaining experience in bridge building. In 1816 he married and sailed to America. The book deals mainly with Crozet’s career in America, beginning with his teaching post at West Point Military Academy. Robert Hunter and Edwin Dooley deal, perhaps in too much detail, with the politics of his appointment and relationships within the academy. Crozet introduced the teaching of descriptive geometry, and it is clear that his education in Paris equipped him to make an innovative contribution to the teaching of engineers at the academy. In 1823 he became principal engineer to the Virginia Board of Public Works. There followed a hectic period of surveying rivers with a view to improved navigation and planning routes for new roads. During his tenure, his plans were increasingly frustrated by divided responsibility and arguments about federal or state funding of public works. In 1831, having achieved much but feeling his authority undermined, he resigned his post. The authors describe 1831 as a year of crisis in Virginia and deal with the discussion in the press and public meetings of the widespread concern that Virginia, abounding in natural advantages, was not as prosperous as its neighboring states. Trans portation facilities were central to the discussion, and the importance of the political dimension is highlighted. In October 1832 Crozet moved south to become State Engineer of Louisiana. He completed surveys, designs, and estimates for pro posed works, but, as before, he was frustrated by state underfunding of his projects. In January 1835 he resigned and became president of Jefferson College. Two years later he was back in Virginia as principal engineer. He reported on the James River Canal and examined some railroads under construction. In 1839 he reported on the extension of the Louisa Railroad across the Blue Ridge, but his ambitious scheme was premature. When Crozet finished his second period as principal engineer in 1843, there was still no coherent network of railroads in the state. Before leaving his engineering post, Crozet was involved with the establishment of the Military School at Lexington, and he was appointed president in 1839. He became principal of the Richmond Academy in 1845 and remained so until the academic year 1848—49. 412 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE In 1849 Crozet became chief engineer to the Blue Ridge Railroad Company, which enabled him to build his long-cherished tunnel under the Blue Ridge. It was four-fifths of a mile long and 700 feet below the mountain top—a difficult building task through hard rock. The book gives an account of construction and labor difficulties. In 1858 Crozet was called to Washington to work on the water-supply aqueduct and refurbishment works at the Capitol and Post Office buildings. He died in 1864 and was buried alongside his wife in Richmond; in 1942 his body was reinterred at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Although the authors do not present great technical detail of Crozet’s projects, they do illustrate how the engineer in the public service must be prepared to have his workjudged notjust on technical competence but on economic and political expediency. This is an interesting case study of the migration of European engineering expertise across the Atlantic, and of the career of, as his memorial at VMI states, a “Soldier, Scholar, Educator, Engineer” who made Virginia his home. Denis Smith Dr. Smith is an engineering historian who recently published a biographical study of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, a Victorian public works engineer. The Colossus of 1812: An American Engineering Superlative. By Lee H. Nelson. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers, 1990. Pp. vi...