EBOOK Railroads Triumphant:The Growth, Rejection, and Rebirth of a Vital American Force -

EBOOK Railroads Triumphant:The Growth, Rejection, and Rebirth of a Vital American Force
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Wydawnictwo: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199878635
EAN: CAD4B318EB
Format: 0,0 x 0,0 x 0,0
Oprawa: ...
Stron: 448
Data wydania: 1991
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In 1789, when the First Congress met in New York City, the members traveled to the        capital just as Roman senators two thousand years earlier had journeyed to Rome, by        horse, at a pace of some five miles an hour. Indeed, if sea travel had improved        dramatically since Caesar's time, overland travel was still so slow, painful, and        expensive that most Americans lived all but rooted to the spot, with few people        settling more than a hundred miles from the ocean (a mere two percent lived west of        the Appalachians). America in effect was just a thin ribbon of land by the sea, and        it wasn't until the coming of the steam railroad that our nation would unfurl across        the vast inland territory.In Railroads Triumphant, Albro Martin provides a        fascinating history of rail transportation in America, moving well beyond the        "e;Romance of the Rails"e; sort of narrative to give readers a real sense of the        railroad's importance to our country. The railroad, Martin argues, was "e;the most        fundamental innovation in American material life."e; It could go wherever rails could        be laid--and so, for the first time, farms, industries, and towns could leave        natural waterways behind and locate anywhere. (As Martin points out, the railroads        created small-town America just as surely as the automobile created the suburbs.)        The railroad was our first major industry, and it made possible or promoted the        growth of all other industries, among them coal, steel, flour milling, and        commercial farming. It established such major cities as Chicago, and had a lasting        impact on urban design. And it worked hand in hand with the telegraph industry to        transform communication. Indeed, the railroads were the NASA of the 19th century,        attracting the finest minds in finance, engineering, and law.But Martin doesn't        merely catalogue the past greatness of the railroad. In closing with the episodes        that led first to destructive government regulation, and then to deregulation of the        railroads and the ensuing triumphant rebirth of the nation's basic means of moving        goods from one place to another, Railroads Triumphant offers an impassioned defense        of their enduring importance to American economic life. And it is a book informed by        a lifelong love of railroads, brimming with vivid descriptions of classic depots,        lavish hotels in Chicago, the great railroad founders, and the famous lines.          Thoughtful and colorful by turn, this insightful history illuminates the impact of        the railroad on our lives.

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