Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen who Built It

In his new book, Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen who Built It, Glenn Kurtz re-examines the familiar story of the Empire State’s amazing construction from a perspective that has stumped previous researchers: the lives of workers who labored daily on the site. Taking the iconic photographs of Lewis W. Hine, collected in his 1932 book Men at Work as a starting point, Kurtz delved into archives, period newspapers, and corporate communications to retrieve the identities of the craftsmen that history has seen as “anonymous” symbols. Kurtz sets the Hine portraits in a new light: as specific documentation of the ordinary, mostly immigrant, men who built the world’s most famous skyscraper.

Glenn Kurtz is the author of Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film, which was named a Best Book of 2014 by The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, and National Public Radio. Three Minutes: A Lengthening, a documentary film based on the book, was directed by Bianca Stigter, co-produced by Academy Award winner Steve McQueen, and narrated by Helena Bonham-Carter. It received the inaugural Yad Vashem Award for Holocaust Documentary in 2022 and was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival. Glenn’s first book, Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music, earned critical acclaim from the New York Times, Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, and National Public Radio.