Straddling the Hudson where the river begins to narrow and twist in its journey, the Bear Mountain Bridge stands as an elegant memorial to the shifting industrial culture of the United States between the two world wars. Once the longest suspension bridge in the world and meant to serve as a necessary industrial connector while preserving the region's scenic beauty, the Bear Mountain Bridge was a titanic undertaking that dramatically reshaped the Hudson Valley. Steel and Grit chronicles the story of the valley at a moment of great change. Drawing on a trove of archival materials, Barbara Hansen Cali traces the Bear Mountain Bridge's construction, from the selection of the land to the role of Gilded Age icons, such as E. H. Harriman and financier J. P. Morgan, the formation of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, and the New Jersey women's clubs that were pivotal to the final legislative efforts.

Steel and Grit examines the importance of the Bear Mountain Bridge, both as a symbol of twentieth-century American ingenuity and as an enduring symbol of the Hudson Valley.