The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

The award-winning author of Empire Express describes his and his family's odyssey west as they retraced the entire route of the first transcontinental railroad, offering a fascinating glimpse of the American spirit of adventure, determination, and character that led to its construction, as well as the journeys that shaped both his own heritage and American history. 50,000 first printing.

David Haward Bain is the author of four previous works of nonfiction, including Empire Express and Sitting in Darkness, which received a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award. His articles and essays have appeared in Smithsonian, American Heritage, Kenyon Review, and Prairie Schooner, and he reviews regularly for The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, and Newsday. He is a teacher at Middlebury College and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.