Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels - Softcover

Jonnes, Jill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143113240 ISBN 13: 9780143113249

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2008

Synopsis

“Superb. [A] first-rate narrative” (The Wall Street Journal) about the controversial construction of New York’s beloved original Penn Station and its tunnels, from the author of Eiffel's Tower and Urban Forests

As bestselling books like Ron Chernow's Titan and David McCullough's The Great Bridge affirm, readers are fascinated with the grand personalities and schemes that populated New York at the close of the nineteenth century. Conquering Gotham re- creates the riveting struggle waged by the great Pennsylvania Railroad to build Penn Station and the monumental system of tunnels that would connect water-bound Manhattan to the rest of the continent by rail. Historian Jill Jonnes tells a ravishing tale of snarling plutocrats, engineering feats, and backroom politicking packed with the most colorful figures of Gilded Age New York.

Conquering Gotham will be featured in an upcoming episdoe of PBS's American Experience.

About this title

About the Author:

Jill Jonnes is the author of Conquering Gotham, Urban Forests, Conquering Gotham, Empires of Light, and South Bronx Rising. She was named a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar and has received several grants from the Ford Foundation. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

From AudioFile:

Gotham, of course, means New York City, and the Pennsylvania Railroad conquered much to bring its trains to Manhattan Island. Aside from maneuvering the politics and designing a monumental station, there was the engineering nightmare of crossing the mile-wide Hudson River with four subterranean tunnels. David Drummonds voice deserves five stars for tempo, understandability, and tone. He avoids the pitfalls of excessive theatrics or droning by choosing subtle accents for quotations without making them distracting. These voices always fit the authors clues about who is speaking, and they create a learning experience far better than the printed word. The authors skill and a narrator perfect for nonfiction will delight lovers of true stories from the past. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0143113240
• ISBN 13: 9780143113249
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384