Gentlemen engineers : the working lives of Frank and Walter Shanly / Richard White.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The engaging story of the 19th-century working lives of Frank and Walter Shanly, two Canadian civil engineers and businessmen who worked on many of the significant projects of the age. An important study of the professionalization of civil engineering.

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CHOICE Review

More than just a biography, White's study of brothers Frank and Walter Shanly is a thorough examination of the civil engineering profession in the 19th century. The brothers, Irish immigrants who came to Canada in 1836, engineered the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada and the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts. White studied the Shanlys' published letters and collections of their papers found in the Ontario Archives to bring to life both the individuals and the economic and social period itself. Through the study of individual lives, White draws the reader into a reconsideration of the field of engineering, a field that he contends to have been a high-status position, more akin to other "gentlemanly" professions such as law and medicine. By using the lives and intimacies of two unique individuals, White creates a social study that is readable and enjoyable, even to those with no particular interest in civil engineering. Extensive, well-organized bibliography. Recommended for any library, especially for collections on Canadian social and economic history and institutions with engineering programs. All levels. ; Wesleyan University