The Great Railroad Revolution

The History of Trains in America

De: Christian Wolmar

Narrado por: Mike Chamberlain

America was made by the railroads. The opening of the Baltimore & Ohio line—the first American railroad—in the 1830s sparked a national revolution in the way that people lived thanks to the speed and convenience of train travel. Built through heroic effort, the American railroad network was bigger in every sense than Europe's, and facilitated everything from long-distance travel to commuting and transporting goods to waging war. It united far-flung parts of the country, boosted economic development, and was the catalyst for America's rise to world-power status.

Every American town, great or small, aspired to be connected to a railroad and by the turn of the century, almost every American lived within easy access of a station. By the early 1900s, the United States was covered in a latticework of more than 200,000 miles of railroad track. The railroads dominated the American landscape for more than a hundred years but by the middle of the twentieth century, the automobile, the truck, and the airplane had eclipsed the railroads and the nation started to forget them.

In The Great Railroad Revolution, Christian Wolmar tells the extraordinary story of the rise and the fall of the greatest of all American endeavors, and argues that the time has come for America to reclaim and celebrate its often-overlooked rail heritage.

©2012 Christian Wolmar (P)2023 Tantor

Well written and read

This audio book is well written and narrated. I'm already fairly familiar with the history of rail in the US, but this was a fresh look at it, written by an author who has a unique perspective from many other historians who've written on the subject.

Excellent Overview

Great description of how rail travel began, grew, decayed and rebirth. I really appreciated the analysis of how railroads influenced the civil war. Honest descriptions of societal costs and benefits.

blatantly political

half history, 2nd half all bias political trash. more interest in government support than economic reality