I’m currently reading The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough, and it’s very interesting. Of course, it’s my bedtime reading, so at 562 pages I’m figuring I’ll be done by 2015.

In my reading last night I came upon a paragraph I had to reread multiple times before I figured out what was going on.

…Roebling returned to Muhlhausen and began organizing a party of pilgrims to leave for America, something that had to be done with caution just then since the government frowned on the immigration of anyone with technical training.

America didn’t want immigrants with technical training? What? The next paragraph continued:

Talk of immigration was a common thing in Germany.

That one I can accept, but the first sentence? No.

If you’re wondering what the hell I’m going on about, let me refresh your memory:

immigrate: to enter and usually become established; especially : to come into a country of which one is not a native for permanent residence

emigrate: to leave one’s place of residence or country to live elsewhere

I thought perhaps it was a mistake missed by the copyeditor, though glaring mistakes are usually caught by the time a book comes out in paperback, so I checked the copyright date. Copyright 1972. This book is 38 years old, and in all that time no one noticed this? Or was this mistake added into newer editions?

Regardless, it’s a fascinating book, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the first 65 pages.