Synopses & Reviews
This original, deeply researched history 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.
Review
"A model of narrative skill and [an] insightful reinterpretation of the Gilded Age. It is easily the best business history I have read." Donald Worster
Review
"Will entertain and outrage readers." Slate
Review
"An exciting story and well told." Buzzy Jackson Boston Globe
Review
"Imaginative, iconoclastic, immensely informative and mordantly funny." John Steele Gordon Wall Street Journal
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
"A powerful book, crowded with telling details and shrewd observations." --Michael Kazin,
About the Author
Richard White, winner of a MacArthur Fellowship and the Parkman Prize, is the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Stanford University.