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 enlarge | Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
Buy Used: $9.99
Used (2) from $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  214 reviews
Sales Rank: 3647333
Media: Paperback
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
ISBN: 5551136914
EAN: 9785551136910
ASIN: 5551136914
Publication Date: 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: TOUCHSTONE EDITION WITH SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT COVER - SLIGHT EDGE WEAR AND FAINTLY TANNED PAGES; NEVER READ.
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Great race September 10, 2006
An engrossing story about the companies and the men behind the building of the Railroad from Omaha to Sacramento. The US Government with its hands tied in the Civil war, sets up a competition between 2 private companies Union Pacific and the Central Pacific who start laying tracks from Omaho and Sacramento. The book details the progress through each state, with insight into the leaders and the workforce behind the construction. Then it reaches a fast pace once we enter Utah where the two tracks meet.
Well this railroad accelerated exponentially the immigration to the the west. The story of the construction is really a mix of great entrepreneurship, big business, railroad surveyors, wild life lovers. But elements like using/abusing an underclass for cheap labor but denying rights, overreacting to native peoples fear of intrusion into their land, insensitivity of big business/technology to native lifestyles may have some relevance even today and make us interospect what 'liberty' actually means.
The Author does a good job in keeping the reader interested, but probably is prone to exaggeration sometimes.
A good way to relive the railroad is to take Amtrak's California Zephyr (which skips wyoming, parts of utah,nevada) or to take I-80
Too much information August 13, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read this book due to the popularity of his book about Lewis and Clark (Undaunted Courage). After having read both, I find this one not up to the standard set by the L&C book. This book is very informative describing the developement of the Transcontinental Railroad. There are some interesting tidbits to the story. Unfortunately, I feel that Ambrose went too far in inserting data. The continuous accounts of the number of nails or wood planks that were purchased or the continuous quotes from telegraphs sent between leaders slowed down the reading. In the end, I felt as though I did learn from the book, but it was a long, dragged out process that made me glad it was over.
 Nothing Like it in the World is tops July 14, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The book is well named. It is also the Greatest American Story Ever Told as the achieved accomplishments were unbelievable. It is more fascinating and exciting than any novel.
 Nothing Like...This? July 6, 2006
13 out of 29 found this review helpful
Anyone who has read Stephen Ambrose knows that precise historical accuracy is not the main focus of his writing. To the contrary, his aims seem to lie closer to promoting super-human efforts and painting people as heroes regardless of the body of evidence before him. This book is no different, with the subject matter not nearly as interesting as some of his other works such as Crazy Horse & Custer, or Undaunted Courage. In fact, Nothing Like It stands at the bottom of the list of Ambrose books that I have read, and possibly marks the end of the Ambrose literary experiment for me.
The issue isn't that he doesn't write interesting books. He sometimes does, though in this specific case it's highly questionable. The problem is that he doesn't engage in the accurate retelling of history. Now I'll be the first to admit that history is often times subjective. But there needs to be some sort of balance. Given the Union Pacific's duo of Durant and Dodge were highly corrupt and never paid their workers, it's hard to constantly laud these 2 men as heroes, as Ambrose often does. It would be more accurate if these men were painted as 2 of the first big time corporate crooks in America. The evidence is in the book, if you pay attention to it. To that end, I'll give Ambrose credit for at least divulging these facts, even if he does absurdly gloss over it by saying, "Boys will be boys."
Nothing Like It In the World tells of the fantastic struggle to bridge the country with an iron road, a feat that in itself is hard enough to conceive. Throw in the fact that this occurred in a time when slavery was ending and the country was divided by the Civil War, and the accomplishment becomes even more impressive. The feats of engineering and the sheer willpower of the Chinese and Irish workers (not to forget the Mormons) is mind boggling. Struggles against the weather of the high Sierras and a race against the competing railroad give us an interesting look at one of the most colossal feats in American engineering history.
But enough with the sensationalism. The men who financed and organized the road were crooks, much as today's Enron executives and Wall Street high rollers are. They were involved for fastidious financial gain, and little else save for having their names recorded in the annals of American history motivated them. In short, they yearned for money and power. Ironically, and perhaps fittingly, many of these men died of relatively ordinary financial means, and only Stanford's name is now recognized by the common man, and only because of the University, not because of the railroad.
The book is mildly entertaining, but too much of it is saturated with Ambrose's gung ho attitude that America is the Greatest Great thing that ever tried to be Greatly Great. Anyone with a tenth of a brain will tire of this early on in the narrative. It's just not good material, to pick up a history book and get hints of comic book hero-worship on the pages. The guy tried hard to be an historical institution unto himself, and a lot of times he missed the mark completely, this book included.
I don't know much about books that rival this work, but I would bet dollars to doughnuts there are dozens of books better suited to tell this story, and most of them will probably leave the "rah rah America" stuff out of it. I suggest looking for one of them.
Not his best, but a good read. May 6, 2006
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Perfect, I would say, for 15 pages before each bedtime. Raliway fans should be forewarned, this is not about locomotives and rolling stock, it's about the politics, financing, logistics and sociology of executing an epic industrial project. Not quite as compelling as Ambrose's WWII books, or his Lewis and Clark tome, but I think that reflects the limitations of this subject matter as entertainment. I disagree with other reviewers who feel that he "soft-pedaled" the subjects of greed and corruption -- I got the message: there was plenty of both. I would applaud Mr. Ambrose instead for remaining relatively objective and non-judgemental in examining historical realities, and for not - as many authors often do - spinning the material into a commentary on current events.
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