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 enlarge | Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Category: EBooks
List Price: $11.99
Buy New: $9.59
You Save: $2.40 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  213 reviews
Sales Rank: 17583
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Dewey Decimal Number: 385.0973
ASIN: B000FC0SF0
Publication Date: January 7, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 changing face of America.... January 25, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
American dreams, greed, courage, innovation and daring make this a wonderful story of an event that changed the face of this country forever...
 "Hmmm.....Railroads are Boring!" Right? November 6, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I "read" this as a book on tape. I had this on my Mp3 player for quite awhile because I thought, "Railroad stories are boring!" But, I found that not to be true. Imagine a time when the "fastest" and "easiest" way to travel across country was by wagon, horse, and oxen going 20 miles a day! Then, you find out about a "train" that goes 18 miles an hour and you can just sit there and let it carry you and your stuff for hundreds and even thousands of miles! You don't even have to push your wagon over any rivers! You'd be pretty excited...yea! Then, there's these two Railroad Companies that are competing to see who gets the further in a given amount of time. The further each company lays track the more their profits in terms of land grands and fares will be. The only problems are that they have to tunnel through about 8 mountains, fight off angry Indians, build bridges over streams and rivers and fill in ravines, and get all the supplies and workers out into the wilderness so they can lay the tracks. Plus there are "the personalities" of the leaders and workmen to contend with not to mention how to finance the operation that will take about 6 years to complete at full speed. Yep, it's quite a story! Read it either in print or as a book on tape. Email: boland7214@aol.
a wonderful journey back in time October 6, 2006
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
we loved this book - transported back to a time where our country was expanding - highly recommend
Very Well Written, Factual and Fulfilling! September 24, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Stephen Ambrose did a great job of explaining the complicated details that led to the miracle of the transcontinental railroad. Anyone who appreciates herculean feats and the web of intrigue surrounding their beginnings, eventual birth and their effect on our great country will love this story. A true five star book.
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
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