Rockefeller Center archivist Roussel is well situated to explore the famous photograph “Lunch on a Beam” as a work of art, a work of commerce, and as strategic, impassioned propaganda. On September 20, 1932, a photo was taken of 11 ironworkers on an I-beam smoking, talking, and eating 850 feet above Rockefeller Center, with New York City spread out below. Also known as Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, the photo first ran in the New York Herald Tribune. Roussel feels it is “among the most famous photographs ever made.” The center was designed by a committee of architects and financed by John D. Rockefeller Jr. at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Sixth Avenue. In the spring of 1930, during the Depression, buildings were purchased and torn down, providing work for thousands. In January 1932 construction of the RCA Building began. When the building had a topping-out ceremony in September 1932, many photos were taken, including the famous choreographed beam photo by, Roussel conjectures, photographer Charlie Ebbets. Rockefeller liked the idea of art and decoration in the center, especially sculptures and murals done by outstanding artists. It would reflect his own social and spiritual values. An exception was a mural by Diego Rivera, featuring Lenin, which was destroyed. The author describes dangerous jobs undertaken by workers, especially the ironworkers who molded 75,000 tons of structural steel. Some fell to their deaths. Roussell reveals that another photo was taken with the 11 men holding out their hats. She details her extensive research trying to identify the men, including insightful profiles of a number of mostly immigrant, Mohawk, and Kahnawake ironworkers and interviews with relatives who provide enticing information. Sadly, she notes, Black workers are missing from the story because unions did not admit them.