'A Man and His Ship' tells the story of the SS United States

Few symbols of power and national confidence are as concrete as the skyscraper — or the ocean liner. Now all but forgotten, grand ships such as the SS United States epitomized the spirit of the American Century."It was a time," says Philadelphia author Steven Ujifusa, "when Americans thought big ... and ‘made in the USA' really meant something." Ujifusa, 33, is the author of A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States (Simon & Schuster, $29.99), which chronicles the life of one such innovator, Philadelphia native William Francis Gibbs, who designed and built one of the greatest and fastest ocean liners to cross the Atlantic.