Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America - Softcover

White, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393342379 ISBN 13: 9780393342376

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012

Synopsis

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

"A powerful book, crowded with telling details and shrewd observations." ―Michael Kazin, New York Times Book Review

The transcontinental railroads were the first corporate behemoths. Their attempts to generate profits from proliferating debt sparked devastating economic panics. Their dependence on public largesse drew them into the corridors of power, initiating new forms of corruption. Their operations rearranged space and time, remade the landscape of the West, and opened new ways of life and work. Their discriminatory rates sparked a new antimonopoly politics.

The transcontinentals were pivotal actors in the making of modern America, but the triumphal myths of the golden spike, Robber Barons larger than life, and an innovative capitalism all die here. Instead we have a new vision of the Gilded Age, often darkly funny, that shows history to be rooted in failure as well as success.

8 pages of illustrations

About this title

About the Author

Richard White is the author of many acclaimed histories, including the groundbreaking study of the transcontinentals, Railroaded, winner of the LA Times Book Prize and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is Margaret Byrne Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393342379
• ISBN 13: 9780393342376
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 720