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 enlarge | Author: Jill Jonnes
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $7.87
You Save: $20.08 (72%)
New (8) Used (8) from $2.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 33504
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1.4
Dewey Decimal Number: 385.314097471
ASIN: B001550A9K
Publication Date: April 19, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fascinating History July 2, 2007
If you love NYC history...then this is a book for you! The years of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century are illuminated in this carefulyy researched non-fiction account of an engineering marvel. Getting the Pennsylvania Railroad into the greatest city on earth, by tunneling under the Hudson reads like a dramatic novel, with an interesting cast of characters. It made me want to read more about the demise of Pennsylvania Station...so I found more books on that subject. Enjoy!!
 A David McCullough treatment would have been gripping. This, not. June 28, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I came to this book prepared to place it in the pantheon of marvelous accounts of epic undertakings and events of the muscled, 19th century America powerbrokers whose vision shaped the world we live in. Unfortunately, Jonnes is not the writer to capture that age.
The majesty of the tunnel undertakings should have been the centerpiece of the story. The effort in the book clearly went into retracing the intrigues surroundinging the graft-ridden political machinery the PRR had to overcome. So, for visual support, we are treated to a number of head- and group shots of the principals, in and out of business meetings, and nostalgic scenes of congested New York streets and waterways. Where are the detailed descriptions, maps and diagrams that flesh out the real story - the mastery of tunnel construction in an unstable footing?
Jonnes has a long way to go to approach the narrative skills of David McCullough in "The Great Bridge," "The Johnstown Flood," or "The Path Between the Seas."
Needs a fact checker June 15, 2007
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am an avid PRR aficiando but was shocked to read the first sentence of the book and to find it rife with errors. Mr. Cassatt used what the PRR called "Business Cars" for his travels over the railroad, not Pullman Palace Cars. He conducted his business and inspected his property from a seat in what the railroad termed a PARLOR not a sitting room. DETAILS!
I was so disappointed that I had to put the book down. I'll try again tonight. After all the hype about this book, I would have thought that the book would have been a historical gem telling the story of one of America's engineering marvels.
It is a story worth telling and telling well. I'll update my thoughts as I complete the story
 Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic June 14, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its TunnelsA very good read about railroad history.
Conquering Gotham: A Gilder age epic: the construction of Penn Station and its tunnels June 4, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
You do not need to be a railroad history fan to be captivated by this book, as this book delves into the gilded age of business in America as well as the monumental corruption of Tammany Hall and the aldermen in turn of the century New York. A great book on the Pennsylvania
Railroad: it's leaders, planners and civil engineers and rank in file, arguably one of the greatest corporations in American history.
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