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A new incisive history of the transcontinental railroads and how they transformed America in the decades after the Civil War The transcontinental railroads of the late nineteenth century were the first corporate behemoths Their attempts to generate profits from proliferating debt sparked devastating panics in the US economy Their dependence on public largess drew them into the corridors of power initiating new forms of corruption Their operations rearranged space and time and remade the landscape of the West As wheel and rail car and coal they opened new worlds of work and ways of life Their discriminatory rates sparked broad opposition and a new antimonopoly politics With characteristic originality range and authority Richard White shows the transcontinentals to be 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 pages of black-and-white illustrations.
About the Author
is the author of many acclaimed histories, including the groundbreaking study of the transcontinentals, , winner of the Book Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, at Stanford University, and lives near Palo Alto, California.
