"Using expert testimonies from scientific investigators, Wearne studies eleven high-profile cases of catastrophic structural collapse. Sometimes these disasters have an unpredictable mechanical cause, such as the miniscule defect in the metal of one eyebar of the Point Pleasant Bridge on the Ohio River that caused the deaths of forty-six people. Usually, though, and more alarmingly, the causes are human. Mistakes, oversights, misunderstandings, incompetence, greed, and corruption: every facet of human failing is represented in the stories behind these structural collapses. "--Jacket.