Nothing Like It in the World by Stephen Ambrose is a good one, well researched and eminently readable. It contains some minor errors that have generated some emotional attacks on Ambrose, but it tells the story well, and no work of history is without error or controversy. Ambrose also wrote an excellent history of the Lewis and Clark expedition and a couple of good books on WWII. 

I have also read "Nothing Like It In the World" and agree with what Southwest Hiawatha said.  It is an eye opener about men's greed.

Ditto...great book.

Maury Klein's "Union Pacific Volume I - 1862-1893" does a good job of describing the maneuvers of Durant and his pals during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. I haven't had a chance yet to compare his work with that of Stephen Ambrose.

 

Neil   

Get yourself a copy of "Nothing Like It in the World" it is the best book to read

 

 

"Iron Horses To Promontory" by Gerald M. Best. Covers both the Central Pacific and Union Pacific and is nicely illustrated for us "pictures" kind of guys, has a comprehensive roster of both railroads during that era, etc.

 

The Transcontinental was an amazing undertaking for the day, especially the Central Pacific's task of getting over the Sierra's.

 

  I'd recommend "A Great and Shining Road" by Williams.  I've read all of the books mentioned in this thread and I prefer the Williams book.

You mean there's text to read in the book I mentioned?

I'll add my vote for "Nothing Like It in the World" by Ambrose.  I still see it in

Barnes &  Noble.  Enjoy.

 

     Hoppy

"Nothing Like It in the World" is a great book and I would highly recommend.  I have shared with family and friends and they all agree.

 

Art

I have a copy of "Nothing Like It in The World" that is brand new, never read. Email me at 77panago@gmail.com. $18 plus $9 shipping. 

Another good one is Empire Express by David Haward Bain. It looks at the project from all angles, especially the questionable politics.

While Stephen Ambrose's book is the better known book, the Empire Express by David Haward Bain is in my opinion the definitive work. It captures every aspect of the story in great depth including the tedious 1 inch/per day a progress through the Sierra Nevada Range and the incredible Chinese laborer work force that accomplished the tunnels. A great read. It is available on Amazon in both soft cover and hardback.

I would get all the books mentioned above, they are all very good reading and each has something to add relating to this part of railroad history.  The more you read the more you know.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex

Nick-

 

I have a copy of George Kraus' High Road to Promontory: Building the Central Pacific Across the High Sierra. The book focuses on laying the rails through the Sierra Nevada deserts and ends with the famous meeting at Promontory, Utah. The book is an old library discard in excellent condition, yours for $10 (to cover shipping).

 

-John

I'm sorry to disagree so strongly but "The is Nothing Like it in the World" is NOT an accurate book. I have read it but I have also read several articles in prototype RR magazines buy respected RR historians claiming it is wrong in many areas and continues false history as if it were fact.Ambrose was a pop history writer who wrote for the masses. His family was doing research for him and he was cranking this out. False storys from movies

Sorry for the premature post. False stories from movies are given the same wieght  as historic primary documents. This is a very sloppy and inaccurate book. When Ambrose died this whole subject came up but he passed before he could defend it. I wish this book was pulled because it just furthers so many inaccuracies. Read any other book. Empire express came out around the same time as Ambrose but the celebrity historian sucked all the air from the room.

 

Ambrose knows how to tell a tale fairly well.  It's both the most popular and widely heralded book on the subject - easy to get, easy to read.  Not the subtitle: its mostly about the people and such.  Not a lot of technical detail in places, but . . 

 

Empire Express by Daiv Bain is also pretty good.  Same story, different writer.

 

There are many others, too, but only two I think are worth considering.  

The Story of the First Trans-Continental Railroad, Its Projectors, Construction and History, by Bailey (1906).  Hard and expensive to find an original, you can buy reprints on Amazon.  More technical detail, from someone who was there. Good!!!

 

Ten-Mile Day, by Mary Fraser, is about the bet that they could build ten miles of track in one day during the height of the competition for mileage (they did, too).  Its a children's book you can often find in libraries.  Interesting facts and illustrations of construction methods based on meticulous research, if rather sanitized facts about the mistreatment of the oriental work force. 

"Railroaded" by Richard White is an interesting history if you want the economic and social context.  It looks at all the early transcontinentals, and the circumstances that led to most of them going bankrupt.

Ambrose's work is generally not highly regarded as great scholarship by most professional historians due to lingering (and apparently supported) allegations of plagiarism.  The book, "Nothing Like It in the World" may be entertaining reading but it has not garnered a following outside of popular readership.

 

Personally, I would not make any of Ambrose's writings my sole - or even first - source of historical information.

I'll second A Great and Shining Road by John Williams. I don't usually read railroad books, but picked this one up used and found it to be a very good book.

  Another book you may want to consider is Makin' Tracks by Lynne Rhodes Mayer and Ken Vose. Get the Barnes and Noble edition.  They found a lot of new pictures and lots of unpublished correspondence. I found the construction pictures very interesting.

 

  Railroaded is a little heavy if you don't have a financial background or extensive knowledge of the history of the railroad.  I found it to be a very good and interesting book crammed with details that I did not know.

 

  The Credit Mobilier was one of the greatest scandels in US history, but the road got built. While I was reading this book I wondered what the big regulatory agencies would say about this railroad. How would OSHA(Occupational Safty and Health Administration) say about the open gears, smoke pollution, living conditions etc.. Would they have stopped the practice of lowering chinese workers in wicker baskets with ropes to work on the cuts? What would the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) say about all the smoke, water pollution, noise, endangereed species (American Bison) etc.? What would the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) do about all the stock and bond swindles, not to mention the Credit Mobilier?

 

Douglas

A lot of those agencies exist today because of the scandals at that time. 

 

Interesting how the Associates had to become crooks in order to compete with the Eastern crooks in order to get the Central Pacific much further than Reno.

 

I'll add my vote to Empire Express.  It's about 700 pages and very few pictures.

 

It's interesting to read about the real Thomas Durant and then see how they turned him into a completely different antagonist in the TV series **** on Wheels.

Empire express came out around the same time as Ambrose but the celebrity historian sucked all the air from the room.

 

Celebrity status aside, the relative sales of the two books were undoubtedly influenced by the fact that "Empire Express" is twice the length of the Ambrose book. 800 pages on the transcontinental railroad is well past most people's attention span. I can't judge which is the better book, but at that length "Empire Express" certainly ought to be more detailed!

I would also suggest Rival Rails by Walter Borneman. I know it is available from Apple as an IBook, and I would imagine from Amazon also. 

Another interesting subject to read about is "Orphan Trains". There are a number of good non-fiction, and historical fiction books out there...as well as DVDs.

Search "Orphan Trains" on Amazon (all departments). I think I've read or seen every one.

 

Back then it was actually a scandal when the robber barons bribed legislators.  Today we would just call it job creators exercising free speech.

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback. I am going to start with Empire Express and go from there.

Nick

Mr. DiSandro:

 

To provide edification regarding the Ambrose book mentioned in several of the previous posts, below is a link to a comprehensive review which summarizes its various shortcomings:

 

http://utahrails.net/articles/ambrose.php 

 

"Empire Express" is a well written and thorough researched book. You've chosen wisely.

 

Regards,

 

Bob  

Is there any difference between the paperback and hardcover? I prefer the hardcover but saw a few listed that have a different number of pages. I wouldn't think there is a difference but who knows!

I have a copy of "Westward to Promontory, Building the Union Pacific across the plains and mountains"  A Pictorial Documentary with text by Barry B. Combs.  Copyright 1961.  It has many really good pictures.  

I read the Ambrose book because I found it in a bargain bin for a buck. If you want the real story, just watch the TV show, Asterisks on Wheels. 

I have read most of the books mentioned on this thread and generally agree with the comments.  Ambrose is easy to read and it won't corrupt.  I had a lengthy discussion with the curator of the Dodge mansion in Council Bluffs-a very worthwile vist-2 years ago and she agreed that no harm will be done by reading Ambrose and that it likely is beneficul in promoting a further search on the subject.

 

Avoid the Ambrose book

 

Ambrose was a good "Pop" history writer, however as a historian he was sloppy. The  book "Nothing Like It in the World" was no exception. In fact here locally, where we are within a few miles of Promontory Summit, the book was a huge disappointment and even the local railroad museum shop quit selling it because of all the errors.

The Sins of Stephen Ambrose discusses the numerous errors with the book

 

(Opps just noticed Bob said the same thing)

Thanks for posting the link, Bob and Chris. It was an interesting read.

I am still reading Empire Express. It is a good book about the history and politics involved. There were a lot of people involved. I am beginning to look for another book that tells about the actual building of the railroad. I would like to know more about the men who actually did the work, how it was done and all the trials and tribulations. If anyone can suggest a book of this nature I would appreciate it.

I general I like Mr Ambroses work. I am more familiar with his military histories.

 

I thought he did fairly well with the transcontinental RR as well as Lewis and Clark.

 

As for what's "out there" these days I have given up on "**** on Wheels".

If I could edit it for myself I could save a lot of time and anguish. Almost everyone are socio-pathic/psychopathic. How the RR was built with all the sharks, carpetbaggers, alcoholics, engineering incompetence, maniac preachers, dysfunctional Indians, etc.corrupt politicians(nothing new there) lots of prostitutes, women with tatoos below their mouths, female preachers?, it was a miracle that thing was built