Statue of Liberty (review)

Whoever coined the adage "Never keep a lady waiting" might have had the iconic Lady Liberty in mind. Over two decades crept by before Frenchman Edouard Laboulaye's vision for a gift to honor America's preservation of democracy would take the form of a monumental sculpture, and for that sculpture to finally rest her feet on a permanent pedestal in New York Harbor. Mann devotes more space than many of the S of L's picture-book chroniclers to examining the delays on the east side of the Atlantic that hobbled the statue's creation, particularly the shifting political landscape that made open celebration of democracy taboo under Napoleon III. Fortunately, when the time was right, Frédéric Bartholdi just happened to have a design left over from a failed commission ("Egypt Enlightening Asia") that was easily adaptable to new demands ("Liberty Enlightening the World"). Bartholdi's working methods, Gustave Eiffel's structural contribution, and the transoceanic efforts to raise money for Liberty's shipping and display are clearly recounted and accompanied by a selection of period photographs, newspaper clippings and cartoons, and full-page paintings, labeled and captioned to explicate stages of design and construction. A timeline, index, bibliography, and ridiculously tiny glossary are also included.