Welcome to Litsy!

Lewis W. Hine's famous photographs document the construction of the empire State Building, the world's tallest building at the time. In the brilliant black-and-white photographs collected in this volume, Hine pays tribute to the human spirit by dramatically contrasting the workers with the mammoth scale of the structure. Thousands of construction workers, electricians, and other technicians risked their lives to ensure that the skyscrapers rose to its now legendary height. Hine's genius lay in observing these men at work, and creating a photo-journalistic record of their daring and perseverance. Hine's photos also give us a surprising glimpse into blue collar America in the 1930s when jobs were scarce and morale was at rock bottom. The faces of the men swinging from cables, dangling from beams, and relaxing on the Empire State's unfinished steel peaks convey anything but despair.