Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869

Ambrose, Stephen E.

3.98

13,144 ratings by Goodreads

9780743506465: Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869

ISBN 10: 0743506464 ISBN 13: 9780743506465

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2000

In this account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and courage, Stephen E. Ambrose offers an historical successor to his universally acclaimed Undaunted Courage.

Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life.

The U.S. government pitted two companies -- the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads -- against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. At its peak, the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, living off buffalo, deer, and antelope.

In building a railroad, there is only one decisive spot -- the end of the track. Nothing like this great work had ever been seen in the world when the last spike, a golden one, was driven in Promontory Peak, Utah, in 1869, as the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific tracks were joined.

Ambrose writes with power and eloquence about the brave men -- the famous and the unheralded, ordinary men doing the extraordinary -- who accomplished the spectacular feat that made the continent into a nation.

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Review:

Conn Nugent

"New York Post"

Climb aboard...this lively tale, a colorful, edifying story of U.S. history....Ambrose is the bard of American accomplishment.

Bob Minzesheimer

"USA Today"

Historian Stephen Ambrose has done it again....Ambrose should be read as much for his muscular prose and talent to get at the heart of the matter as for his research.

Henry Kisor

"The New York Times Book Review"

Richly readable...[Stephen Ambrose] bears the reader on shoulders of wonder and excitement.

Henry Kisor"The New York Times Book Review"Richly readable...[Stephen Ambrose] bears the reader on shoulders of wonder and excitement.

Conn Nugent"New York Post"Climb aboard...this lively tale, a colorful, edifying story of U.S. history....Ambrose is the bard of American accomplishment.

Bob Minzesheimer"USA Today"Historian Stephen Ambrose has done it again....Ambrose should be read as much for his muscular prose and talent to get at the heart of the matter as for his research.

"Time," naming "Nothing Like It in the World" as the #1 Nonfiction Book of the YearThis magnificent tale of high finance, low finagling, and workers hacking through 2,000 miles is magnificently told.

Bob Minzesheimer "USA Today" Historian Stephen Ambrose has done it again....Ambrose should be read as much for his muscular prose and talent to get at the heart of the matter as for his research.

"Time, " naming "Nothing Like It in the World" as the #1 Nonfiction Book of the Year This magnificent tale of high finance, low finagling, and workers hacking through 2,000 miles is magnificently told.

Henry Kisor "The New York Times Book Review" Richly readable...[Stephen Ambrose] bears the reader on shoulders of wonder and excitement.

Conn Nugent "New York Post" Climb aboard...this lively tale, a colorful, edifying story of U.S. history....Ambrose is the bard of American accomplishment.

Richly readable...[Stephen Ambrose] bears the reader on shoulders of wonder and excitement.--Henry Kisor "The New York Times Book Review "

This magnificent tale of high finance, low finagling, and workers hacking through 2,000 miles is magnificently told.--Time, naming Nothing Like It in the World as the #1 Nonfiction Book of the Year

Climb aboard...this lively tale, a colorful, edifying story of U.S. history....Ambrose is the bard of American accomplishment.--Conn Nugent "New York Post "

Stephen Ambrose has done it again....Ambrose should be read as much for his muscular prose and talent to get at the heart of the matter as for his research.--Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today Historian

About the Author:

Stephen E. Ambrose is the author of Citizen Soldiers, Undaunted Courage, and D-Day, as well as biographies of Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. He is founder of the Eisenhower Center and president of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. He lives in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and Helena, Montana.

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