NYU Press, 2025.
Thirty years ago a New Yorker article, "The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis," recounted the little-known drama of the threatened collapse of a Manhattan skyscraper. In a new book, The Great Miscalculation: The Race to Save New York City’s Citicorp Tower, author Michael Greenburg further investigates the full story of how in 1978 structural engineer William LeMessurier became aware of a critical flaw in his innovative design and the chain of events and responses that followed. A team of engineers and building experts mobilized to analyze and correct a miscalculation that, a generation before 9/11, threatened Midtown Manhattan with a catastrophic collapse of a major tower.
After Greenburg's talk, he was joined in conversation with Najib Abboud, a Managing Principal at Thornton Tomasetti, to discuss the professional practice and culture of structural engineering in the 1970s and today.
Michael M. Greenburg
Michael M. Greenburg is a practicing attorney, a former member and editor of the Pepperdine Law Review, and an author of popular nonfiction. His previous books include The Court-Martial of Paul Revere: A Son of Liberty & America’s Forgotten Military Disaster, The Mad Bomber of New York: The Extraordinary True Story of the Manhunt that Paralyzed a City, and Peaches and Daddy: A Story of the Roaring 20’s, the Birth of Tabloid Media, and the Courtship that Captured the Heart and Imagination of the American Public.
Najib Abboud
Najib Abboud is a structural engineer and a Managing Principal at Thornton Tomasetti. He was one of the leaders of the forensic analysis of the collapse of the World Trade Center.
The program begins with an introduction by Museum director Carol Willis, followed by Michael Greenburg's presentation, then a dialogue with Najib Abboud.