Iron Horses: America's Race to Bring the Railroads West
447 pages
|Published: 18 Nov 2014
|Editions
|Details
This edition
ISBN: 9780316371773
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Publication date: 18 November 2014
Description
A "masterly" account of the origins of the transcontinental railroad (Douglas Brinkley) by the author of the bestselling The Admirals.
After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the rest of the United States was up for grabs, and the race was on. The a better, shorter, less snowy route through the American Southwest, linking Los Angeles to Chicago.
In Iron Horses , Borneman recounts the rivalries, contested routes, political posturing, and business dealings that unfolded as an increasing number of lines pushed their way across the country. Borneman brings to life the legendary robber barons behind it all and also captures the herculean efforts required to construct these roads -- the laborers who did the back-breaking work, the brakemen who ran atop moving cars, the tracklayers crushed and killed by runaway trains.
From backroom deals in Washington, DC, to armed robberies of trains in the wild deserts, from cattle cars to streamliners and Super Chiefs, all the great incidents and innovations of a mighty American era are made vivid in Iron Horses .
After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the rest of the United States was up for grabs, and the race was on. The a better, shorter, less snowy route through the American Southwest, linking Los Angeles to Chicago.
In Iron Horses , Borneman recounts the rivalries, contested routes, political posturing, and business dealings that unfolded as an increasing number of lines pushed their way across the country. Borneman brings to life the legendary robber barons behind it all and also captures the herculean efforts required to construct these roads -- the laborers who did the back-breaking work, the brakemen who ran atop moving cars, the tracklayers crushed and killed by runaway trains.
From backroom deals in Washington, DC, to armed robberies of trains in the wild deserts, from cattle cars to streamliners and Super Chiefs, all the great incidents and innovations of a mighty American era are made vivid in Iron Horses .
