- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Ghost River Rare and Used Books, Cremona, AB, CanadaGhost River Rare and Used Books
AbeBooks seller since January 11, 2026
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 22.31
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
N. Y.: Random House, 2010. Winner of the Governor General's Award. Cover is bright and clean, wee rubs to corners, and a bit of edge rubbing. No former owner's name. Text is clean and unmarked. Stated First Edition. Very Good/Very Good.
Seller Inventory # 302258
- Title
- Rival Rails
- Author
- Walter R. Borneman
- Publisher
- Random House, N. Y.
- Publication year
- 2010
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Very Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1400065615
- ISBN 13
- 9781400065615
- Edition
- 1st Edition
After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the rest of the country was up for grabs, and the race was on. The prize: a better, shorter, less snowy route through the corridors of the American Southwest, linking Los Angeles to Chicago. In Rival Rails, Borneman lays out in compelling detail the sectional rivalries, contested routes, political posturing, and ambitious business dealings that unfolded as an increasing number of lines pushed their way across the country.
Borneman brings to life the legendary business geniuses and so-called robber barons who made millions and fought the elementsand one anotherto move America, including William Jackson Palmer, whose leadership of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad relied on innovative narrow gauge trains that could climb steeper grades and take tighter curves; Collis P. Huntington of the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific lines, a magnate insatiably obsessed with trainsand who was not above bribing congressmen to satisfy his passion; Edward Payson Ripley, visionary president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, whose fiscal conservatism and smarts brought the industry back from the brink; and Jay Gould, ultrasecretive, strong-armer and one-man powerhouse.
In addition, Borneman captures the herculean efforts required to construct these roadsthe laborers who did the back-breaking work, boring tunnels through mountains and throwing bridges across unruly rivers, the brakemen who ran atop moving cars, the tracklayers crushed and killed by runaway trains. From backroom deals in Washington, D.C., to armed robberies of trains in the wild deserts, from glorified cattle cars to streamliners and Super Chiefs, all the great incidents and innovations of a mighty American era are re-created with unprecedented power in Rival Rails.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Walter R. Borneman is the author of several books, including 1812: The War that Forged a Nation, the French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America, and Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America, for which he won the Tennessee History Book Award and Colorado Book Award for Biography. He is the president of the Walter V. and Idun Y. Berry Foundation, which funds postdoctoral fellowships in children's health at Stanford University.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Ghost River Rare and Used Books
Cremona, AB, Canada
AbeBooks seller since January 11, 2026
Shipping rates from Canada to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 14 business days | 4 to 6 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 11.58 | £ 18.07 |
Payment methods
Store description
Rare and used books. All genres. Specializing in Canadiana.
Specialty
Rare and used booksSeller's business information
Ghost River Rare and Used Books
AB, Canada
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