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Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad | 
 enlarge | Author: David Haward Bain
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $10.22
You Save: $7.78 (43%)
New (4) Used (8) from $2.65
Avg. Customer Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 1154500
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 816
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.9
Dewey Decimal Number: 385.0973
ASIN: B000OCZEVO
Publication Date: September 1, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book
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Amazon.com Review
On the morning of May 10, 1869, a gang of Irish immigrants met a party of Chinese laborers on a windy bluff northwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. Tired to the bone, the two groups laid down the last of countless wooden ties, bought at the exorbitant cost of six dollars apiece, and thus joined two great rail lines, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to form a single transcontinental route. That rail line made possible the mass settlement of the West, and, as those who conceived it well knew, it changed the course of American history. David Haward Bain's superb narrative of westward rail history, weighing in at 800 pages, ends not with this great achievement but with the political and financial scandal that would almost overshadow it. Along the way Bain looks closely at the entrepreneurial men who foresaw the possibilities of a vast nation joined by a steel ribbon--most memorably the hit-and-miss businessman Asa Whitney, who proposed to Congress an ingenious scheme to fund the building of the railroad through commercializing the right of way. Some of the men who came after Whitney, such as Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington, and Leland Stanford, amassed great fortunes in realizing this dream. Others died penniless and nearly forgotten in the wake of political maneuverings and bad deals. Bain's vigorous, well-written narrative does much to restore those overlooked actors to history. --Gregory McNamee
Product Description
After the Civil War, the building of the transcontinental railroad was the nineteenth century's most transformative event. Beginning in 1842 with a visionary's dream to span the continent with twin bands of iron, Empire Express captures three dramatic decades in which the United States effectively doubled in size, fought three wars, and began to discover a new national identity. From self--made entrepreneurs such as the Union Pacific's Thomas Durant and era--defining figures such as President Lincoln to the thousands of laborers whose backbreaking work made the railroad possible, this extraordinary narrative summons an astonishing array of voices to give new dimension not only to this epic endeavor but also to the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of an unforgettable period in American history.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 38 more reviews...
 this is no polar express October 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although animation movies are usually fun to watch and take less, MUCH less time to complete, they are not always the better part. As for this book, it ain't the Polar Express and even without big names like Tom Hanks, this book has it's share of characters.
This compelling book takes you back into time when The America's have had their first settlers on both sides of the country and cities were emerging. East coast and west coast are battling for the first railroad from east to west. Powerful alliances are forged and tremendous labour is being made. Who will win?
If you ask me, the reader has won. All details about indians, labour-, cultural- and financial problems are brought forward and it really gives you a good view of the times.
This book is a great history novel, but don't expect a fairytale.
Light at the End of the Tunnel June 9, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad
"Light at the End of the Tunnel"
It took me nearly as long to read this mammoth book as it took to build the Railroad upon which it is based. But the effort was worth it in both instances: the Great Transcontinental Railroad literally united the Union at the same time the Civil War was jeopardizing it. There is enough material here for several books: the Railroad Surveys which opened the west to exploration; the visionary dreams of the Chief Engineers (of which there were several); the desperate attempts to fund the project; the physical and logistical challenges; and the political scandal that nearly wrecked it (the Credit Mobilier Scandal).
A lot to attempt, and to a large degree David Howard Bain accomplishes it. But there is simply too much detail, too many names and dates, too involved a plot. I can't help but compare it to David McCullough's excellent history of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, The Great Bridge. Had he written the story, it might have been more manageable. But Bain deserves an A for effort.
In a highly-visual story like this, the publisher could have made better use of the ample photographic record of the railroad.
A good start to an interesting economic history December 14, 2006
For those interested in technological history this is a great book to start with. While it may look daunting this book analyzes the social, political and technological implications of building a railroad that spans the country. It looks at the corruption and mismanagement of workers as well as looking at how the country benefited from being made whole. This is a great place to start for understanding the United States economic rise to power after the Civil War.
Read about how the Gilded Age built up a head of steam January 21, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Holding companies, stock watering, stock certificate bribery on the floor of Congress, no less!
The story of the building of the transcontinental railroad is far more than the story of Irish and Chinese laborers moving toward an unknown meeting point in the west. And Bain paints that story in detail.
Changes in railroad legislation were bought off by stock contributions and other favors. Congress was for sale rather than dealing with serious measures like Reconstruction.
Meanwhile, Union Pacific VP Thomas Durant was bleeding and skimming the company dry, including changing the UP's course and more.
Read all about America's first huge business scandal, intertwined with one of its biggest political ones, in this hard hitting book. And, read about those Irish and Chinese laborers as well.
Very Good! November 22, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Empire Express is an amazingly well done epic.
Starting at the beginning of the Age of Steam when only dreamers thought that America's greatest mid century engineering feat was a remote possibility, and winding up at the beginning of the Gilded Age, when only scoundrels seemed to be the survivors of this series of events, David Haward Bain weavers the tale of the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad. From the passes and tunnels of the Sierra Pacific and the Indian dislocations caused by the construction of the route, to the New York Boardroom skirmishes and battles, the swindles and the amazing Washington bribery that embittered two US Presidencies, Bain leaves no stone unturned in the description of THE event that finally bound the East and West coasts of the United States together for the for the time.
Starting in the mid 1840's when mountain men still roamed the American West and finishing in the early 1870's amid complex scandals quite beyond belief, Bain highlights just what an economic driver capitalism has been in the settlement and development of America as we know it today. For over 250 years men of all nations searched for the fabled Northwest Passage, the non existent sea lane that supposedly connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It wasn't until 1862, during the height of the American Civil War that America decided to create on land the passage that did not exist by sea.
This is the story of that incredible undertaking, truly the final step in America's Manifest Destiny.
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