-
Railroaded
- The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 23 hrs and 5 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $34.76
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
American Colossus
- The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a grand-scale narrative history, the bestselling author of two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize now captures the decades when capitalism was at its most unbridled and a few breathtakingly wealthy businessmen utterly transformed America from an agrarian economy to a world power.
-
-
8 Thoughts on 'American Colossus'
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: H. W. Brands
-
Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
-
-
A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03
-
The Impending Crisis
- America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861
- By: David M. Potter, Don E. Fehrenbacher
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Impending Crisis is the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern secession.
-
-
A Slog for Sure
- By Brux on 04-13-17
By: David M. Potter, and others
-
Americana
- A 400-Year History of American Capitalism
- By: Bhu Srinivasan
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Bhu Srinivasan
- Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century.
-
-
Excellent history!
- By L. Maranto on 10-14-17
By: Bhu Srinivasan
-
The Box
- How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger
- By: Marc Levinson
- Narrated by: Adam Lofbomm
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried 58 shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about.
-
-
Fascinating Topic sometimes lost in minutiae
- By zombie64 on 07-15-14
By: Marc Levinson
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
American Colossus
- The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a grand-scale narrative history, the bestselling author of two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize now captures the decades when capitalism was at its most unbridled and a few breathtakingly wealthy businessmen utterly transformed America from an agrarian economy to a world power.
-
-
8 Thoughts on 'American Colossus'
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: H. W. Brands
-
Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
-
-
A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03
-
The Impending Crisis
- America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861
- By: David M. Potter, Don E. Fehrenbacher
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Impending Crisis is the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern secession.
-
-
A Slog for Sure
- By Brux on 04-13-17
By: David M. Potter, and others
-
Americana
- A 400-Year History of American Capitalism
- By: Bhu Srinivasan
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Bhu Srinivasan
- Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century.
-
-
Excellent history!
- By L. Maranto on 10-14-17
By: Bhu Srinivasan
-
The Box
- How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger
- By: Marc Levinson
- Narrated by: Adam Lofbomm
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried 58 shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about.
-
-
Fascinating Topic sometimes lost in minutiae
- By zombie64 on 07-15-14
By: Marc Levinson
-
The House of Morgan
- An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gripping history of banking and the booms and busts that shaped the world on both sides of the Atlantic, The House of Morgan traces the trajectory of the J. P.Morgan empire from its obscure beginnings in Victorian London to the crash of 1987. Ron Chernow paints a fascinating portrait of the private saga of the Morgans and the rarefied world of the American and British elite in which they moved. Based on extensive interviews and access to the family and business archives, The House of Morgan is an investigative masterpiece.
-
-
The construction of the House of Morgan
- By Darwin8u on 10-22-18
By: Ron Chernow
-
The Edge of Anarchy
- The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America
- By: Jack Kelly
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic story of the explosive 1894 clash of industry, labor, and government that shook the nation and marked a turning point for America. The Edge of Anarchy offers a vivid account of the greatest uprising of working people in American history. At the pinnacle of the Gilded Age, a boycott of Pullman sleeping cars by hundreds of thousands of railroad employees brought commerce to a standstill across much of the country. Famine threatened, riots broke out along the rail lines. Soon the US Army was on the march and gunfire rang from the streets of major cities.
-
-
Wow! every workingman should read.
- By Calemos on 01-18-20
By: Jack Kelly
-
The First Tycoon
- The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
- By: T.J. Stiles
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 28 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism. Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire.
-
-
Great! If you can get through it...
- By john on 08-08-10
By: T.J. Stiles
-
Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize)
- An American History
- By: Ada Ferrer
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Ada Ferrer - prologue
- Length: 23 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation.
-
-
US Bash Job
- By Derek & Amber Witt on 04-14-22
By: Ada Ferrer
-
Reconstruction
- America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877
- By: Eric Foner
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 30 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The period following the Civil War was one of the most controversial eras in American history. This comprehensive account of the period captures the drama of those turbulent years that played such an important role in shaping modern America.
-
-
Outdated edition!!
- By Bruce on 11-02-17
By: Eric Foner
-
Nature's Metropolis
- Chicago and the Great West
- By: William Cronon
- Narrated by: Jonah Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.
-
-
Moving
- By JB on 02-09-18
By: William Cronon
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Doug on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
-
Gotham
- A History of New York City to 1898
- By: Edwin G. Burrows, Mike Wallace
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 67 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. The events and people who crowd this audiobook guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America....
-
-
THANK YOU!!!!!
- By SPFJR on 09-29-18
By: Edwin G. Burrows, and others
-
The Men Who United the States
- America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did America become “one nation, indivisible”? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators. Introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree.
-
-
Sarcastic
- By Cynthia Hartman on 06-16-16
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Age of Revolution
- 1789-1848
- By: Eric Hobsbawm
- Narrated by: Hugh Kermode
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This magisterial volume follows the death of ancient traditions, the triumph of new classes, and the emergence of new technologies, sciences, and ideologies, with vast intellectual daring and aphoristic elegance. Part of Eric Hobsbawm's epic four-volume history of the modern world, along with The Age of Capitalism, The Age of Empire, and The Age of Extremes.
-
-
Brilliant Materialist Interpretation
- By Earth Lover on 05-16-20
By: Eric Hobsbawm
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
-
excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
-
Iron Rails, Iron Men, and the Race to Link the Nation
- The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad
- By: Martin W. Sandler
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1850s, gold fever swept the West, but people had to walk, sail, or ride horses for months on end to seek their fortune. The question of faster, safer transportation was posed by national leaders. But with 1,800 miles of seemingly impenetrable mountains, searing deserts, and endless plains between the Missouri River and San Francisco, could a transcontinental railroad be built? It seemed impossible.
-
-
If you enjoy history
- By Jeff on 08-28-18
Publisher's summary
The transcontinental railroads of the late 19th 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.
Critic reviews
"White delivers an opinionated, delightfully witty but astute account of sleazy Gilded Age politics, business, and journalism, as well as the complex (but uncomfortably familiar) financial maneuvers men used to enrich themselves." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
More from the same
What listeners say about Railroaded
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Keith
- 06-23-18
Correcting the Myth of the Transcontinentals
Richard White's body of work is impressive for the depth of his research and the urgency of his analysis. Railroaded is a focused book that compliments his more broadly conceived histories of the American West, yet it poses big questions and touches on issues far beyond the scope of railroads in the late 1800s. White uses the expansion of railroads in the West to examine the corruption, incompetence, shortsightedness, and labor exploitation that have become hallmarks of corporate capitalism. The book counterbalances accepted notions of the ultimate benefits to building the transcontinentals by factoring in the myriad social, economic, and environmental costs. Ultimately, White's argument is not that the railroads shouldn't have been built or wouldn't have been realized without government intervention. He questions the moral and financial impact of how and when they were built. White's writing is direct and engaging. It can also be entertainingly caustic, especially when dealing with the ineptitude of men in power. White seems to find special joy in mocking the namesake of the university where he teaches, using archival research to expose Leland Stanford as an incompetent man who nevertheless stumbled his way into fame, fortune, and power. More than taking aim at historical myths, Railroaded is a contemplative and astute book written by one of our premier historians. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brent Paxton
- 06-25-18
Great Way to Tell the History
I live in a railroad town in East Texas. So, it was fascinating hearing the retelling of how railroads spread throughout the United States. I recommend this to anyone who has a serious or fleeting interest in railroads and how they shaped the United States. My little town in East Texas, Palestine, was heavily influenced by the railroad in the late 1800s. So, I sawed this book out to learn more about how railroads shaped towns like my own. It's well worth it and I recommend it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carl U.
- 10-01-18
A different view of a famous subject
For some time now I've been fascinated by the railroads. Probably from living in CA near both Sacramento and San Francisco. I've read books about The Big Four aka The Associates and about the building of the Cental Pacific and Union Pacific, most notably the Steven Ambrose book Nothing Like It In The World. Railroaded takes an entirely different approach to the subject. The author looks not at the building of the railroad but the financing of the roads, why they were built, where and when they were built and some of their affects on our society. This is a large tome. It is both scholarly and entertaining. It will take a while to read and 23 hours to hear as an audiobook but I considered it well worth the investment of time. There is a lot to process about the men involved, the times, the birth of corporations in the U.S. and the political environment of the second half of the 19th century. I believe this book will be of interest those with a curiosity of American history, railroading, early corporate finance and the political enviornment of the time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Judas Mallory
- 06-12-19
Evil Railroads!
According to the author, everyone involved in the transcontinental railroads were evil, vile men. And the railroads themselves served little to no purpose. I got through four hours of this book and there is not a single positive word about anything. I mean, I get it: there was a lot of corruption and public money was not used efficiently. However, all that is in this book is tale after tale of how terrible everyone was. It is completely one-sided.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MJK1
- 08-07-18
Very In Depth and Enlightening
For fans of both history and railroads, this is a really great book. The author goes into very fine detail regarding the Transcontinental Railroads that formed after the Civil War through the turn of the 20th Century. I learned a LOT of new things. The facts Mr. White was able to unravel from the personal correspondence of the men who formed and ran these railroad companies definitely show that reality is a lot different than high school history classes’ old narratives on these companies and their impact.
The depth and breadth of the research very effectively prove the points Mr. White is trying to convey to the reader. In some instances, the depth he goes into can bog down the overall flow of the book, but overall, I found it a very compelling story. In so many ways, there are so many parallels between Gilded Age financiers and politicians and our current day. Narration is solid overall.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Mears
- 03-07-19
Expertise and Bias
Mr. White deomonstrates his expertise regarding the 19th Century railroads with the incredible amount of minutiae he includes in the book.
I always enjoy learning history, so I did enjoy “Railroaded”, however Mr. White also demonstrated a very strong hatred of the wealthy. The vast majority of the wealthy individuals in the book are described negatively as incompetent, corrupt and worse...repeatedly. Perhaps they were; as I said Mr. White demonstrated his expertise. However he also demonstrated a bias.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 09-15-18
A history of fraud
The book seems to be well researched and dives into great detail about all of the fraud surrounding the building of the transcontinental railroads. Throughout there is a kind of sassy, dead pan irony to the way they describe how cartoonishly corrupt the whole business was
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Astroman
- 07-07-23
Great if you like Politics/Finance otherwise not
Mostly about the politics and financial dealings related to building the railroads. If you are looking for physical details or technical details - look elsewhere. I gave up on this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- wylie smith
- 06-21-23
difficult writing, made worse by Audible
Actually the narrator is pretty good, but White drops so many names and facts that I wanted to turn back a few pages to reference the name/fact again.25 years ago, I read White's "The Middle Ground" and found the writing, well, turgid for lack of a better choice. In this book, White delineates quite a bit of fascinating information in the last couple of hours (longhorn cattle, over grazing, the use of buffalo hides, ...), and White does so without lingering overlong on these points. But for most of the book. the data and names came so fast that I could not connect them to the story. In White's attempt to display his data, I, for one, lost the forest for the trees. And maps would have helped, I presume that there are some on the pages of books and/or Kindle, to understand the terrain of the railroad lines. This is one book that I find Audible delivers only part of the substance. And it would have been nice to see the notes - which I am sure were copious - but ultimately, for the second time, I just did not like White's prose.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ejb
- 01-01-23
Meh, Boring
I like White from other books but found this one not worth the time spent on it. He is good as far as writing style, using wit at times. But the content itself was blah.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Iron Empires
- Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Nicholas Tecoksy
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1869, when the final spike was driven into the Transcontinental Railroad, few were prepared for its seismic aftershocks. Once a hodgepodge of short, squabbling lines, America's railways soon exploded into a titanic industry helmed by a pageant of speculators, crooks, and visionaries. The vicious competition between empire builders such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, J. P. Morgan, and E. H. Harriman sparked stock market frenzies, panics, and crashes; provoked strikes; transformed the nation's geography; and culminated in a ferocious two-man battle....
-
-
History doesn't get any better
- By Philo on 02-06-21
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
From the River to the Sea
- The Untold Story of the Railroad War that Made the West
- By: John Sedgwick
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is difficult to imagine now, but for all its gorgeous scenery, the American West might have been barren tundra as far as most Americans knew well into the 19th century. While the West was advertised as a paradise on earth to citizens in the East and Midwest, many believed the journey too hazardous to be worthwhile — until 1869, when the first transcontinental railroad changed the face of transportation.
-
-
Excellent
- By Anonymous User on 07-21-21
By: John Sedgwick
-
The Edge of Anarchy
- The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America
- By: Jack Kelly
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic story of the explosive 1894 clash of industry, labor, and government that shook the nation and marked a turning point for America. The Edge of Anarchy offers a vivid account of the greatest uprising of working people in American history. At the pinnacle of the Gilded Age, a boycott of Pullman sleeping cars by hundreds of thousands of railroad employees brought commerce to a standstill across much of the country. Famine threatened, riots broke out along the rail lines. Soon the US Army was on the march and gunfire rang from the streets of major cities.
-
-
Wow! every workingman should read.
- By Calemos on 01-18-20
By: Jack Kelly
-
Iron Rails, Iron Men, and the Race to Link the Nation
- The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad
- By: Martin W. Sandler
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1850s, gold fever swept the West, but people had to walk, sail, or ride horses for months on end to seek their fortune. The question of faster, safer transportation was posed by national leaders. But with 1,800 miles of seemingly impenetrable mountains, searing deserts, and endless plains between the Missouri River and San Francisco, could a transcontinental railroad be built? It seemed impossible.
-
-
If you enjoy history
- By Jeff on 08-28-18
-
Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
-
-
A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
Iron Empires
- Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Nicholas Tecoksy
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1869, when the final spike was driven into the Transcontinental Railroad, few were prepared for its seismic aftershocks. Once a hodgepodge of short, squabbling lines, America's railways soon exploded into a titanic industry helmed by a pageant of speculators, crooks, and visionaries. The vicious competition between empire builders such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, J. P. Morgan, and E. H. Harriman sparked stock market frenzies, panics, and crashes; provoked strikes; transformed the nation's geography; and culminated in a ferocious two-man battle....
-
-
History doesn't get any better
- By Philo on 02-06-21
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
From the River to the Sea
- The Untold Story of the Railroad War that Made the West
- By: John Sedgwick
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is difficult to imagine now, but for all its gorgeous scenery, the American West might have been barren tundra as far as most Americans knew well into the 19th century. While the West was advertised as a paradise on earth to citizens in the East and Midwest, many believed the journey too hazardous to be worthwhile — until 1869, when the first transcontinental railroad changed the face of transportation.
-
-
Excellent
- By Anonymous User on 07-21-21
By: John Sedgwick
-
The Edge of Anarchy
- The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America
- By: Jack Kelly
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic story of the explosive 1894 clash of industry, labor, and government that shook the nation and marked a turning point for America. The Edge of Anarchy offers a vivid account of the greatest uprising of working people in American history. At the pinnacle of the Gilded Age, a boycott of Pullman sleeping cars by hundreds of thousands of railroad employees brought commerce to a standstill across much of the country. Famine threatened, riots broke out along the rail lines. Soon the US Army was on the march and gunfire rang from the streets of major cities.
-
-
Wow! every workingman should read.
- By Calemos on 01-18-20
By: Jack Kelly
-
Iron Rails, Iron Men, and the Race to Link the Nation
- The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad
- By: Martin W. Sandler
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1850s, gold fever swept the West, but people had to walk, sail, or ride horses for months on end to seek their fortune. The question of faster, safer transportation was posed by national leaders. But with 1,800 miles of seemingly impenetrable mountains, searing deserts, and endless plains between the Missouri River and San Francisco, could a transcontinental railroad be built? It seemed impossible.
-
-
If you enjoy history
- By Jeff on 08-28-18
-
Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
-
-
A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
Rival Rails
- The Race to Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad
- By: Walter R. Borneman
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, which marked the completion of the country's first transcontinental railroad, was only the beginning of the race for railroad dominance. In the aftermath of this building feat, dozens of railroads, each with aggressive empire builders at their helms, raced one another for the ultimate prize of a southern transcontinental route that was generally free of snow, shorter in distance, and gentler in gradients. With a meticulous, loving eye, Walter Borneman picks up where most other histories leave off....
-
-
Detail Heavy
- By Book Wranglers on 06-19-18
-
The Middle Ground
- Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815
- By: Richard White
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An acclaimed book and widely acknowledged classic, The Middle Ground steps outside the simple stories of Indian-white relations—stories of conquest and assimilation and stories of cultural persistence. It is, instead, about a search for accommodation and common meaning. It tells how Europeans and Indians met, regarding each other as alien, as other, as virtually nonhuman, and how between 1650 and 1815 they constructed a common mutually comprehensible world in the region around the Great Lakes that the French called pays d'en haut.
-
-
A great book, not for beginners
- By ssejhog on 06-18-23
By: Richard White
-
Stealing Rembrandts
- The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists
- By: Anthony M. Amore, Tom Mashberg
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today, art theft is one of the most profitable criminal enterprises in the world, exceeding $6 billion in losses to galleries and art collectors annually. And the masterpieces of Rembrandt van Rijn are some of the most frequently targeted. In Stealing Rembrandts, art security expert Anthony M. Amore and award-winning investigative reporter Tom Mashberg reveal the actors behind the major Rembrandt heists in the last century. Through thefts around the world—from Stockholm to Boston, Worcester to Ohio—the authors track daring entries and escapes from the world's most renowned museums.
By: Anthony M. Amore, and others
-
Who Killed Jane Stanford?
- A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University
- By: Richard White
- Narrated by: Christopher P. Brown
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1885 Jane and Leland Stanford cofounded a university to honor their recently deceased young son. After her husband's death in 1893, Jane Stanford, a devoted spiritualist who expected the university to inculcate her values, steered Stanford into eccentricity and public controversy for more than a decade. In 1905 she was murdered in Hawaii, a victim, according to the Honolulu coroner's jury, of strychnine poisoning.
-
-
Jane Stanford Would Rather be Dead than Read This
- By RelizzScholar27 on 07-03-22
By: Richard White
-
Imperial Germany and War, 1871-1918
- Modern War Studies
- By: Daniel J. Hughes, Richard L. DiNardo
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by two of the world's leading authorities on the subject, Imperial Germany and War, 1871-1918 examines the most essential components of the imperial German military system, with an emphasis on such foundational areas as theory, doctrine, institutional structures, training, and the officer corps. In the period between 1871 and 1918, rapid technological development demanded considerable adaptation and change in military doctrine and planning.
-
-
Very well researched
- By Jeff Wise on 04-27-20
By: Daniel J. Hughes, and others
-
The Dawn of Innovation
- The First American Industrial Revolution
- By: Charles R. Morris
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story