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Title: Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow : The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads by Dee Brown ISBN: 0-8050-6892-9 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad
Comment: One should not be surprised that railroad companies in a capitalist country are run to produce profits rather than for the good of the country. There is no astonishment that railroads in the United States were seen as money machines, and the natural monopolies of railroading were exploited to the max. However, railroads were widely seen as being good for the United States--and indeed the railroads provided the United States with a heightened sense of national unity as well as great economies in transportation.
Dee Brown does an admirable job of narrating the inherit contradictions involved in the story of the transcontinental railroads--"the good of the country" and "$$ for a few". The story does not stop once the first transcontinental railroad is built, either. Dee Brown describes effects on Native Americans, immigrant populations, tourists, farmers, and others.
The book is readable--good high school students should be able to handle it. There are also lots of vintage photographs, which add to the value. I'm not a professional historian, so I can't judge some things. The book is still in print after twenty-five years, and there's a reason for that: it's good.
Rating: 4
Summary: I'll toot the whistle for this one
Comment: I'm contributing this review because I think the existing, single review on Amazon is unfair. I know nothing about the author, but I do know enough from history that he is not completely out of whack to take the view that the railroads were often in the grip of robber barons and that many in Congress had their hands out when it came to making sure the Iron Horses enjoyed lenient legislation that enabled them to cross the continent. Thus, I think the author was entitled to his strong views when it comes to assessing the political and business climate in which the railroads were built. But this book is far more than a polemic. It contains fascinating passages about the "Hell on Wheels" collapsible shanty towns that followed the rail-heads across the prairie with their accompanying cast of gamblers, con artists and prostitutes waiting to prey on the laborers who built the lines. Also, there are memorable descriptions of the hardships endured by the first adventurers to travel from coast to coast behind the Iron Horse, together with quotes from Kipling, Robert Louis Stephenson and others who made the trip. I bought this book because I wanted to know more about the history of the building of the railroads and the opening up of this country. My curiosity was fully satisfied.
Rating: 1
Summary: Hear that same old story
Comment: This is another railroad history potboiler. Bad rail barons build bridges, lay tracks, grab the the land, loot everything, corrupt politicians and oppressed everybody. They ruined American society, ruined all the western lands, and set up corporate monopolies to crush everyone forever, if one believes this book. It is another journalistic sensation story. This story is so old the author even tells the old "Railroads Grab Land for Free" story where the railroad supposely got millions of acres (he claims 10% of the entire country!) for free from the government. This tale was discredited publicly in the 1950's as 19th century political propaganda. The railroad lands were paid for by all railroads at discount rates for over a centutry but Dee Howard never mentions that. His shallow search probably never found it. Nor does he present a balance view of the western rail development. Sure there were excesses, but the west is the world's biggest bread basket. Who set that up? Airlines?
This is a rip off book. Read something by Albro Martin of Harvard, if you want something readable, detailed, balanced and acurate about railroads and U.S. history.
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Title: Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier by Roger D. McGrath ISBN: 0520060261 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: April, 1987 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster ISBN: 0195032128 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: September, 1982 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Empire Express: Building the 1st Transcontinental Railroad by David Haward Bain ISBN: 0140084991 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West by Dee Alexander Brown ISBN: 0803250258 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice and Peace to Rid the World of Evil by James Bovard ISBN: 1403963681 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pub. Date: 06 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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