About this title: In this railroad history, a noted historian tells the story of the construction of America's transcontinental railroad. Ambrose describes how the idea was conceived in the 1830s, and organizes his story by individual rail lines, telling how each met the specific challenges posed by nature in each state or region until the lines were completed and joined in 1869.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Illustrated.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780743203173ISBN:0743203178
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Ready for new reader. read more
Edition: Illustrated.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780684846095ISBN:0684846098
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Really nice copy. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 432 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. An account of the unprecedented feat of engineering, vision and courage that it took to build the transcontinental railroad. read more
Edition: Abridged.
Binding: Audiobook cassette
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780743506434ISBN:074350643X
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Ex-Library book-on-tape with stickers and stampings. Clamshell has some typical wear. (W4) 4 cassettes. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780684846095ISBN:0684846098
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780684846095ISBN:0684846098
Description: Good in Good jacket. 146-Y-Add. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: Very good. Dust Cover Missing. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Riverside, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780684846095ISBN:0684846098
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Slightly pulled. No marks, tears or writing. Not price clipped. Jacket has a little wrinkling at the top edge. Full numberline first edition. read more
Description: Good. Ex-Rental. Good condition. Audio Cassette. Case/Booklet Good. Former Library book. Original artwork may contain stickers or shelfware. Quality guaranteed! read more
"I've always been a sucker for trains and I love history too. Stephen Ambrose knows how to tell a good story. My wife and I took a train route out west a number of years ago and passed through many of the places of note mentioned here. I'd like to do so again after becoming even more familiar with the incredible history of the railroad's construction. As is usually the case, the real heroes were the average, nameless laborers-especially the Chinese-who risked life and limb. Just about all of the bigwigs at the top of the chain were scoundrels of varying degrees."
"This had been on my shelf for years, taunting me. Not sure why I finally picked it up, but it was a nice surprise. Growing up in Wyoming I thought I was versed in the history of the Union Pacific, but this opened me up to new worlds of just how damn hard it was to get the transcontinental railroad built. I guess I always knew, but maybe it's that I'm older and appreciate backbreaking work like that a little more."
"The first 100 pages of this book drew me in. Lincoln's great interest in the transcontinental railroad was previously unknown to me. The story of Theodore Judah was fascinating. Judah was the man who might be considered the "father" of the Central Pacific and devoted his life toward bringing it to life, but died of yellow fever (age 37), the week after the first rail was laid. Nevertheless the entire railroad was built almost exactly to the specifications of his vision.
It was also fascinating to read about the tremendous feats of engineering the builders were able to accomplish with a total lack of "modern technology" - using black powder to blast a tunnel through two sides of a mountain at once (sometimes only advancing a foot a a day) to have to two tunnels meet in the middle within inches of each other. Amazing stuff.
But, I was more than a little put off by Ambrose's glorification of who he views as the "men who built the transcontinental", i.e., the financiers, the movers and shakers - the "Big Four" on the C.P. side and Durant on the U.P. side. Yes, they risked financial empires to build the railroad, but they did so on the backs of immigrant workers, government land grants, congressional bribes (cheap stock) in exchange for subsidies, scandalous credit/construction schemes.... all designed to maximize their own profit at the expense of everyone else.
These men were the fat-cat Wallstreet CEOs of their day, justifying any scheme to continue their enterprise & further their greed. I guess the big difference here is that they were actually building something.
Personally, I found much more interesting the story of the Irish, Chinese and other immigrants, who, in my view, were the REAL "men who built the transcontinental railroad." They worked around the clock in horrific, dangerous conditions for outrageously low wages.
Unfortunately, they are NOT the focus of this book. Ambrose chronicles their deaths and sacrifice almost like another box of nails or load of railroad ties - 20 Chinese lost that month, 5 found frozen in the snow that spring, etc. Also only mentioned in passing - the suppression of the Indian tribes whose land the railroad divided and conquered. Perhaps they paid the highest price of all for the construction of the railroad - the destruction of their entire society.
Ultimately, I grew extremely bored with the endless and repetitive description of grants, bonds, stock swaps, board changes, congressional votes, prices paid for shovels, spikes... blah, blah, blah.
So... for me a little too much celebration of capitalism here and not enough human interest."
"Quite Possibly one of the most boring reads ever! Repetitious at times and often inserted with out-of-sequenc information. After I reached 3/4 of the way I simply gave-up. At this point I figured he couldn't possibly give me any new information that wasn't already mentioned several times. I get it! Building the railroad was tuff work. Let's not make reading about it equally tuff by dragging it out. Ambrose seemed as if he was bored writing about it at times. This is evident when entire conversations are transcribed verbatim.
Skim this Book at Most then return it to the bookshelf. Better yet, burn it so no one else feels compelled to read it!"
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