Nothing Like It in the World

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 letdown from one of our best historical narrative writers.
Review: Professor Ambrose comes up very short here. His topic, the building of the first modern transportation and communication link between the settled eastern states and the unsettled western territories could be as compelling as was Lewis and Clark's journey into the unknown so well brought out in his justly acclaimed "Undaunted Courage".

In the opening sentence in his acknowledgements he candidly states that when his editor suggested he write a book about the transcontinental railroad he hesitated. Thoughout this book one gets that sence of hesitency. He never really seams to bring together the various aspects of this remarkable undertaking; instead they seem fairly disparate and his writing quite rushed. The technique he has used in the past, namely quoting from those in trenches and unknown to all readers of history to bring alive a time and a feeling, fails him greatly here. At times the book brings out a wonderderful feeling of awe on the part of the reader but, quite unfortunately, the monotony of his narrative calls into question his desire to write this book and his editor's ability to control the flowery prose riddled with cliche on the part of a major writer of american history.

I have been a huge fan of Ambrose in the past and will undoubtedly read his future works. I have often wondered how he can be so prolific at the same time deliver such a well thought out and researched product time and again. Happily this book is the exception to his consistancy.

The next time he hesitates about writing on a particular topic, I hope he goes with his visceral feel rather than feeling the need to put out some work that is neither up to his standard nor the standards his readers have come to expect from him.

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: Readable, but History Lite
Review: I've enjoyed Ambrose's World War II histories, so I was disappointed in the light, flowery language and lack of critical thinking in this book. The transcontinental railroad was a massively complex financial and political transportation infrastructure project promoted, financed and built by ambitious, sophisticated "men of affairs" who wanted to make money. To characterize any and all of the Big Four, Durant, Dodge, etc. simply as heroic figures, "true Americans", fails to tell their story. Sheer heroism didn't get the railroad built. Lots of money did, and the of how it was acquired and spent or disappeared is given short shrift, I think because much of that story is a tawdry one of bribes, kickbacks and insider dealing. Not very heroic actions, true, but not ones that should be condemned outright either. This was the 19th century after all. These were men of their time, not ours. They weren't the saints Ambrose portrays, nor were they complete sinners. Perhaps heroic capitalists? Nonetheless, Ambrose relies on the participants' own first person accounts, many written after they became successful and wildly rich, with reputations to maintain (especially after Credit Mobilier) or enhance. Ambrose really fails in his depiction of Dodge. He simply dismisses other historians' skepticism of Dodge's contribution as Chief Engineer and the veracity of tales Dodge told in his autobiography. Ambrose believes Dodge, I guess, because he wants Dodge to be heroic. This is just simple-minded. If you want a quick read, and know nothing about the building of the first transcontinental railroad, buy this book for the story. If you want a more sophisticated history of the railroad, read David Bain's book, "Empire Express."

Rating:
Summary: MISTAKES
Review: THIS IS A SUBJECT I AM VERY FAMILIAR WITH AND ALTHOUGH THE AUTHORS INTENT TO PRESENT THE HISTORY OF THE TRANSCONTINTAL RAILROAD FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE WORKING MAN IS GOOD, THE EXTREME NUMBER OF TECHNICAL AND HISTORIC MISTAKES MAKE THIS BOOK ALMOST WORTHLESS.

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: 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: A great and enduring story, poorly told and misinterpreted
Review: This book begins and ends with grand statements about the "vision" of government supremacists like Abraham Lincoln and various members of Congress. Ambrose repeats many of the most enduring myths of the railroad baron era, and tells this story in a very conventional way. The great "foreward-thinking" "leaders" in Washington who planned and commissioned the first transcontinental railroad as a marriage of government and private enterprise are painted as heroes, while those who criticized this monstrous government giveaway are depicted as narrow-minded reactionaries.

In fact, Ambrose ignores a good bit of evidence that suggests that government subsidies of the transcontinental railroads was entirely unnecessary and probably detrimental to the industry. Burton W. Folsom, Jr., in the book "The Myth of the Robber Barons" shows that it was possible to build transcontinental lines without government subsidies. Ambrose deals primarily with the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroades, which were both in bed with Washington policymakers. But Folsom describes how James J. Hill's Great Northern Railroad was able to construct a transcontinental line across worse terrain using land purchased on the open market without any government loans or subsidies--and to make a profit while charging lower faires! Thus much of Ambrose' interpretation--his "moral" as it were--is simply false. Government subsidies of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific produced inefficient, corrupt operations that negatively impacted the U.S. railroad industry for generations afterward.

Rating:
Summary: Error filled and quotes from non-existent people
Review: All of Ambrose's works have been severely criticized for their
errors and extensive plagiarisms, but this book may lead all of the rest, according to the Committee for the protection of 'What is True' in Railroad History, chaired by G.J. 'Chris' Graves, Newcastle, California, which found that Ambrose text contains at least 60 pages that display one or more rather obvious errors, as well as quotes from non-existent people. The test itself (at least that part actually written by Ambrose) has his usual bombastic statements and pedestrian writing. Ambrose never let the facts get in the way of a heroic tale. His books qualify for the fiction shelf. They're certainly not histories.

Rating:
Summary: Not a classic but a good read just the same.
Review: Enjoyable, but somewhat repetitive story of the transcontinental railroad. Often narrative gives out and is replaced with lists of statistics or simply fails and is reduced to hyperbolae.

Despite this, it was a good telling of the facsinating story behind the train that tied together the american continent. T