THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

This capsule history of a wonderful structure is full of the facts and figures that make that Art Deco landmark such a marvel. Doherty and Doherty (Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1993, etc.) recreate the tempo of the project—rush, rush, taking little more than a year from start to finish—as set against the appalling Depression-era conditions that surrounded the building's construction: When their jobs were finished, many laborers were sent straight to the bread line. The sheer magnitude of the endeavor makes the book captivating, and sidebars add interest, including information on the glorification of the building in the movies, from King Kong to Independence Day. Full-color and black- and-white period and contemporary photographs convey a sense of timelessness—the great slab is fairly unchanged, nearly 70 years later. (Nonfiction. 8-11)