Nothing Like It In The World : The Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad 1863 - 1869

Rating:
Summary: Woefully inadequate journalism
Review: I'm not in the habit of denigrating books that so many others have criticized before -- yet this one has some glaring faults that I haven't seen mentioned by other reviewers. Specifically:

The subject of railroad construction history cries out for comprehensive, detailed, accurate maps, both current and historical, to illustrate the geography and cultural features of the landscape through which the railroad was built. The paltry few maps included are crudely drawn, with rarely marked elevations and no more than a dozen or so place names each, neglecting the hundreds of locations and terrain features critically important to this epic story. Although the major rivers are fairly carefully traced, we are left to wonder about the size and names of most of them.

Many personal meetings (those involving Abraham Lincoln in particular) are described complete with casual chitchat, behavioral mannerisms, and even the thoughts of the participants -- as if these details could be known even to others living at the time, much less a historian writing more than a hundred years later. The technique of imagining and fabricating details of events, unless carefully acknowledged (as in Safire's brilliant "Freedom"), belongs in historical novels, not in a conscientious history. It casts doubt on the rest of the work, documented or not, because it shows the author has injected his own speculations and assumptions among the confirmable facts.

Lastly, the journalistic mistakes in this book represent a veritable catalogue of errors any self-respecting writer must avoid. They include the duplication of information and chaotic meandering in time and place that many others have noted in detail. Poor choices of wording and vocabulary are legion, to the point that it is hard to believe the manuscript underwent any critical editing. Also distressing to the reader are multitudes of obvious typographical errors.

If the estate of Mr. Ambrose would allow it, the publishers of this book could do their faithful readership, and the railroading enthusiasts of the world, a great service by issuing a second edition of this book with the organization improved, errors corrected, and better maps added. The result could be much more readable than Bain's massive tome on the same subject.

Rating:
Summary: What a fascinating story!
Review: I've been out West many times, but had only the haziest view of the transcontinental railroad before reading "Nothing Like It in the World." Stephen Ambrose was such a good writer, and I was quickly caught up in the story of the railroad, although I'm not a railroad buff. And I learned a great deal.

Ambrose apparently changed his mind while working on the book from a view that the rich who built the railroad were just robber barons to thinking they actually made a tremendous contribution to America's unity and development. Ambrose appreciated their work and the work of the Chinese who built from the West, the American Civil War veterans and the Irish who built from the East, and the Mormons who built in the middle.

Ambrose tells a good story, perhaps better for people like me who don't already know a lot about the transcontinental railroad than for professional historians or railroad buffs. It's not GREAT, like Undaunted Courage, Ambrose's book on Lewis and Clark, but it's a GOOD READ.

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Description of a Heroic Tale.
Review: If you have been looking for a Christmas gift for a friend who enjoys reading you can stop right here. Ambrose may be the best narrator of the American story in our generation, and this book will fit very nicely next to his studies of D-Day (D-Day June 6, 1944 : The Climactic Battle of World War II) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West) as a brilliant description of a heroic tale.

Ambrose is particularly helpful because he blends together the technology that made the transcontinental railroad possible, the courageous visionaries who thought it through, the politics and lobbying that made it financially possible, The Irish and Chinese laborers who did the great bulk of the work, and the daring, high risk entrepreneurs who turned their dream of a nation united-by-rail into reality.

This book is also a useful reminder to its modern audience that much of American success has been a public-private partnership. In building the railroad, the Army played a key role in scouting the West and protecting the rail crews, and it profited from the railroad through dramatically lowered costs in time and money for moving forces and sustaining them. The government played the most critical role by providing finances and incentives. Without those public contributions the railroad could not have been built for at least another generation. Similarly, the government paid for another very important and related development at the time, the transcontinental telegraph.

On the other hand, the entrepreneurs at both the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads were vital in providing the drive, ingenuity and determination to get the railroads built. The same amount of money they contributed, if spent through a public bureaucracy, would not have gotten the railroad built. In fact, even a vastly greater amount of money spent through a public bureaucracy would not have built the railroad as rapidly as these entrepreneurs were able to build it.

Ambrose also makes clear that the railroad was an instrument of transformational change. Combined with the telegraph it dramatically shortened distances and lowered costs, which provides an interesting and useful context for many of the changes we are experiencing today because it revolutionized the lives of average people.

It took a nation to build a transcontinental country, but private individuals profited immensely in both time and money from the investment once it was made. The rise of the modern American economy and the creation of enormous industrial and agricultural wealth were both by-products of this remarkable achievement.

This is a book that reminds you of the intense optimism and spirit of practical achievement which have been at the heart of the American culture for the last three centuries. It will renew your understanding and appreciation of why this country attracts people from across the planet and then makes them glad they got here.

Rating:
Summary: A Middle school Report
Review: In my opinion "Nothing like it in the world" is a good historical book. With vivid statements it places picutures of working on the railroad superbly in your imagination. Though its not up to stephen ambroses usual par itfor his books, it is still a good read. But true railroad buffs will definetly want to read something else.

This book tells the story of when the transcointenental rail road was only a dream to when it was finished and all in between.From Judah to Lincoln and the Big 4 and Credit Moblier this book covers their stories.With good accounts of the leguislature and promoters. It allows you to get inside the mind of the workers on issues from wages to racial predjudice.

This book can be enjoyed on many different levels and is a fun read for any Ambrose fan. To enjoy this book you should probably be a history enthuisiast like myself. For a monumentus occasion in american history, could definetly do better but that is my opinion.

All in all this book is a worthwhile read, but to be honest, that's the most anyone could say. If you read this book you will have o make your own opinion. But to new readers to ambrose i implore you not to judge his work by this.

Rating:
Summary: A Readable History of the Transcontinental Railroad
Review: In this effort, Mr. Ambrose takes up the subject of the transcontinental railroad. First, this story needs to be told. Secondly, it should be told in a fashion that is readable and easy to understand. Ambrose achieves both goals.

Of note is the commentary about the marvel of engineering necessary to cross the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the quiet dignity of the Chinese immigrants who made it possible. I found the contrast between the work ethic of the Chinese, as compared to the boisterous revelry of the Irish, very interesting.

Lastly, I believe that this history can add to our understanding about how government and private money can be used as a tool to encourage the best of American ingenuity. At the same time, it is also a good lesson in graft and political expediency.

Ambrose can be read by children and adults. His obvious gift of storytelling is more than evident in this history. Pick it up cheap and find out.

Rating:
Summary: Binding East to West, North to South
Review: The building of the transcontinental railroad was one of the largest efforts in modern times. It tied the Atlantica to the Pacific and enabled the settlement of the west. It dramatically changed communication, reducing both time and cost. It began the healing of the rift between North and South.

Ambrose tells the story of the building of the road, from initial concept through the decades following its completion. We learn of the complexity and scale -- grander than anything else to that time. We see the impact on the native peoples and the nation recovering from a devisive war.

The story is worth telling, but is not the easiest read. There are so many details that for me they interfered with the story. Nevertheless, I learned a great deal, including the difficulties of each line, the effect on local economies and populations, the competition itself. The book is worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: HEADLINE NEWS - Late 1860s
Review: With the end of the Civil War in 1865, except in the ex-Confederate States where reconstruction news dominated, during the late 1860s the headline news in the U.S.A. was the building of the transcontinental railroad. Stephen Ambrose does an excellent job narrating this event beginning with Lincoln's 1859 meeting with Grenville Dodge, later chief engineer for building the Union Pacific, to the driving of the golden spike on May 10, 1869. In 1853 Congress called for a survey of possible routes. A discussion of route selection opens the book, with the last miles actually not being settled until shortly before the Central Pacific and Union Pacific met at Promontory Point. Most interesting is the author's narration of the early pioneer surveyors especially Theodore Judah who determined the most feasible route through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Alternate chapters cover the progress of each railroad, beginning with the Central Pacific in the west followed by the Union Pacific from the east. This is fascinating reading as the Union Pacific moves west battling Indians and many adversities while the Central Pacific struggles with the Sierra Nevada's granite mountains where tunnel progress was measured in inches per day. Both railroads were troubled by weather especially heavy snow. The Central Pacific ultimately had to build almost 50 miles of snowsheds to protect the railroad in the mountains. For both the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, each chapter describes the construction, financial, political and organizational problems for the project phase being covered. The chapters are well documented with the frequent references and quotations from letters and telegrams resulting in a comprehensive narrative.

The book notes that without the assistance of the Federal Government the construction of the railroad during the 1860's probably would not have been possible. The author describes how Congress passed legislation which fostered a race between the two railroads as they built toward each other. The Federal Government awarded land grants and cash to each railroad based on the mileage graded and tracks laid with premiums paid for the difficult/expensive mountain construction. The cash was to be repaid by bonds which were guaranteed by the Government. A race was a natural result as each railroad tried to build the most trackage. Consequently, as the time of completion neared, the two railroads actually graded for track that paralleled and passed each other. The description of how the actual meeting point was established and the associated financial maneuvers by each party makes for fascinating reading.

Throughout out the book, Ambrose develops a balanced description of the major players; none are all bad or all good with the contributions of each being described. As expected personalities were a major factor which both aided and/or abetted their cause. Their lives after completing the transcontinental railroad is given thereby completing their story.

The book also notes a rarely considered fact that even before the completion of the transcontinental railroad "there was an event of grand importance to the scientific and industrial revolution....the first transcontinental telegraph line was opened." With the telegraph line in operation the East Coast could communicate with the West Coast in a matter of seconds and was a great, albeit expensive, assistance in building the railroads. The building of the transcontinental railroad would have been very difficult, if not virtually impossible, had just land and sea communications been only available. The reader should note the large number of telegrams that the authors quotes which is only a faction of the total number sent while the railroad was being planned and built.

The last chapter is an epilogue. Here Ambrose writes "Mistakes were made all along the line, caused both by errors of judgment and certain cynicism, encouraged by Congress, and cheered on by the population at large. There was an emphasis on speed rather than quality, on laying much track and making as much grade as possible rather than doing it right." He continues "One glaring reminder of the waste was the two grades running east and west from Promontory Summit, parallel to each other." Following the completion of the transcontinental railroad, newspapers launched what the author calls "the biggest

scandal of the nineteenth century", and Congress went after the railroads because the transcontinental railroads would not exist without the government having loaned them money with government bonds and given them land grants. Ambrose notes that "The land grants are much misunderstood, especially by professors teaching the American history survey course." He concludes that while many of the owners of the railroad's stocks and bonds were guilty of most of the charges made against them, the author states that the land grants never brought in enough money to pay the bills of construction. Furthermore, he notes, that the bonds were not a gift but loans which had to be paid back in thirty years or less. This obligation was met.

Other transcontinental routes were later completed including in 1881 a railroad over the southern route consisting of the Texas and Pacific and Southern Pacific and by the end of the 19th century the United States had four transcontinental railroads. However, the Central Pacific with the Union Pacific was the first transcontinental railroad and this book is their story.

This book is a history of a critical period in the United States, the end of the 1860s, when both transcontinental transportation and communication was completed put in operation so that the East Coast was now united with the West Coast. The book concludes with the statement "Things happened as they happened. It is possible to imagine all kinds of different routes across the continent, or a better way for the government to help private industry, or maybe to have the government build and own it. But those things didn't happen, and what did take place is grand. So we admire those who did it -- even if they were far from perfect -- for what they were and what they accomplished and how much each of us owes them."