A hard-driving engineer with a reputation for excellence is on a quest to tame one of the wildest rivers in the United States, bringing much needed water to the arid American West. He'll struggle with a disgruntled workforce, hellish conditions, and nearly insurmountable engineering challenges, but when it's done, the Hoover Dam will be as tall as a 60-story building, requiring more material than the Great Pyramid, and with enough concrete to circle the equator.

• Ian Karr