Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-69

by Stephen E. Ambrose

Nothing Like It in the World gives the account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and courage. It is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad—the investors who risked their businesses and money; the enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and surveyors who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives; and the Irish and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks.

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. Locomotives, rails, and spikes were shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West or lugged across the country to the Plains. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle, and sweat, comes vibrantly to life.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Historical, Westerns, Audiobook, Railways

432 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2000

About the author

Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon. He received his Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In his final years he faced charges of plagiarism for his books, with subsequent concerns about his research emerging after his death.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The railways made America.” (3.5 stars)

This was my first experience with a Stephen E. Ambrose book. I will read others, but I hope they are a little better than this one. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but I found the writing to be disjointed at times, with lots of awkward transitions. I was surprised to find that in a writer who seems to be highly regarded.

NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD is about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, and I had never read a book on that subject, so I was interested to pick it up. More than anything this text celebrates the grit of the American mentality. Every major milestone in railroad engineering and construction came out of mid-19th century America. That is remarkable. Lots of problems encountered with this project, and one by one they were met head on and solved.

Here are some highlights of the text for me:
1. Mr. Ambrose quotes liberally from primary sources. I appreciate that he present their words without commentary, not projecting our current values/mores on them. He presents them in the context of their time, and leaves it alone. As any good historian would do.
2. At one point Ambrose writes of the endeavor, “Altogether it was a great modern army, moving forward with a will and a plan, unable to stop, determined to win the battle.” This book does a nice job of demonstrating how very true that statement is.
3. Long before people could go live on social media at any time from their phones, the driving of the “golden” spike that officially signaled the transcontinental railroad’s completion on May 10th 1869 was telegraphed across the world live. It’s a very cool story, and one I knew nothing about.
4. Ambrose closes the book with a strong refutation of the accepted (and false) history that the builders of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads got the better of the government. He succinctly dismantles that false notion, and shows how it was a beneficial enterprise for government and private industry.

Quotes:
• “The transcontinental railroad was the last great building project to be done mostly by hand.”
• “The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were the first big business in America.”
• “The grain fields of Europe are mere garden patches beside the green oceans which roll across the Great Plains.”
• “…the genuine American genius-the genius of the West especially, which welcomes obstacles and looks on impossibilities as incentives to greater exertion.”
• “Weather dominates everything.”
• “So work on as though Heaven were before you and Hell behind you.”
• “The locomotive was the first great triumph over time and space. After it came and crossed the continent of North America, nothing could ever again be the same. It brought about the greatest change in the shortest period of time.”
• “Together, the transcontinental railroad and the telegraph made modern America possible.”
• “But a choice made is made, it cannot be changed.”

NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD is not a consistently great book, but it is a good one. The last two paragraphs of the text are excellent. Really good, and a perfect summation for the whole experience of the building of this railroad. I appreciate that Mr. Ambrose keeps these folks he is writing about squarely in their time and context. His final sentence says it best, “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.”

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Subtitled (incorrectly) "The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869", I knew I was taking a risk reading an Ambrose book, but the subject was compelling to me. I like trains, I like history, particularly 19th Century American History, so I figured I would give this a try.

Not one of my better plans.

It's pretty bad when the 20 minute animated Peanuts special on the same subject is more critical of the subject material than a book for adults. But sadly, this was the case. Rather than be a historian, Ambrose is a cheerleader for men who swindled workers, contractors, and the government for what he considers a greater purpose (namely the railroad) but I consider a horrible purpose--their pocketbook.

Oh sure, he will mention the excesses of the bosses, particularly Doc Durant, who was the Ken Lay of his day. But they are almost told as asides, as being off the point. Yeah, he screwed the Mormans, but who cares? They built into Utah! Hooray!

For a history book written in the 1950s, this would be acceptable and forgivable. But the tome, written in 2000, has all the modern scholarship of a Bill O'Reilly book. Everyone is put in the best light possible, except for those pesky Irish demanding higher wages (how dare they?) and the Mormans demanding their money (the cads!). When the praised frequently for being docile and industrious Chinese threaten to strike, Ambrose is all about praising the bosses for using strong-arm tactics to end it. "Thus did Charles Crocker and his partners show other employers around the nation one way--theirs--of how to deal with strikes." (page 242) Thankfully, he does not mention African Americans or slavery that often, because, had the railroad been built by slaves, I could easily see him writing, "but that was the only way to get it done" just as he defends the actions of the bosses with that same lame excuse.

It's obvious that Ambrose and I do not share political philosophies, and that's fine. He spends pages in his afterward decrying the way that the teachers condemn the bosses to their students.

A lengthy quote from page 377 will explain why the book is written in this manner:

"With regard to the government bonds, generations of American students have been offered a black and white view. The bonds when not only to the CP and the UP buy to six companies chartered to build the second, third, and so on Pacific railroads. In the textbooks, as in the lectures, the government was handing out a gift. Now, for those of us who were in college in the 1950s, the classes were taught by professors who had taken their own graduate training in the 1930s and had thus been brought up to blame big business for everything that went wrong, especially the Great Depression. Those professors who were not New Deal Democrats were socialists. They all knew that it helps then anti-big business case if you can call those bonds a gift."

So yeah, this is the story of the Transcontinental Railroad as seen through the prism of Rush Limbaugh. Which is fine as far as it goes, but don't complain about black and white reporting when the only gray in your version is the faded uniforms worn by the Southern veterans who helped build the Union Pacific. Yes, there is far more to the story than just "owners evil, workers good"--I completely agree. The problem here is that Ambrose swings the pendulum so far the other way that he actually fails to see why it was wrong--by omitting any harsh words--for Huntington to be looking at the Congress to see whose vote was for sale! That's not Ronald Reagan conservatism, that's modern political "pro-business" talk, and it's sickening.

Even if you are so radically pro-business that the above doesn't bother you, what will is the writing style. It feels like Ambrose dictated the text with no further editing, leaving us with so many short editorial sentences (which is why his lack of one about the bribery is so glaring) as to be distracting. This book reads like your elderly uncle telling a story after Thanksgiving dinner--long and rambling, circling back on itself, repeating information he just said a few chapters ago, and of course with no room for anyone else's opinion.

Never in this book does Ambrose reference another historian's work directly (there are footnotes, but I am referring to a real quote). Never, other than his dismissive "New Deal and socialists" comment above, are other opinions given sway. And as a result of this, I find his protestations of being unable to find anything from the Chinese or Irish workers rather hollow. This is especially true because in the last ten years, there are all kinds of Civil War diaries popping up all over the place. You mean to tell me that no one who wasn't an engineer, surveyor, or boss kept a diary? Not a single one?

That's Ambrose's stance, and while it may be true, his book and evidence of other, similar time periods doesn't make it very easy to believe. We are not, after all, writing a book about building the Roman Road--this is not even 150 years ago.

All of this pales in comparison, however, to Ambrose's treatment of the Indians. They are never given a single chance to defend themselves. Drawing his history from Hollywood movies,. Ambrose paints them as savage terrorists (replace railroad for oil pipeline and Indian for Arab and this book wouldn't read very different, if at all) who are only shown raping, pillaging, and murdering every chance they get, except for the Pawnee, who are depicted as loving the ability to take scalps of the "bad" Indians. The Indians must submit or be eliminated in the minds of the men making the railroad and Ambrose goes right along with that, not even giving a second to go over treaties, violations, or any act of cruelty by the soldiers that might have provoked the Indians in any way. They are bad, bad, bad. It's sickening to read--a modern book, even one favorable to the railroad, should never stoop to that level.

I was honestly surprised this book didn't come with a set of pop-pops in UP colors. It's all about how great America used to be, how we suck now, and how anything that got in the way of such a grand project should have just accepted the manifest destiny that was the railroad's progress. The idea that it had to be done this way, which appears to be Ambrose's view, is complete bunk. So, basically, is this book. (Library, 07/08)

Trebby's Take: Take it away! Do not, I beg you, bother to read this. And please, tell me what I should read instead. I like the subject but this was really bad.

[David Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to read others' reviews before I write my own, and, as is often the case when I come across a negative review to a book I liked, my first thought is "did you actually read it," followed by "can you read?" But, to put things in perspective, I remember going into a classroom a few years ago after having finished this book, and I enthusiastically shared with my high school seniors how great it was. One somewhat attentive student asked what it was about to which I replied "the building of the transcontinental railroad." The blank look on the majority of faces cued me in to the fact that, first, most of my students didn't know what the transcontinental railroad was, and, for those that did, it confirmed in their mind that I was crazy. That said, Ambrose makes a momentous singular accomplishment in American history come vividly alive. The vision of Lincoln and those who helped fulfill that vision were amazing, though often flawed, men. In some ways, the railroad may be the greatest testimony to the American spirit.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweeping in the beginning and the end as Ambrose is wonderful giving context and meaning to the transcontinental railroad, but a SLOG in between. I don't think I highlighted anything in the middle 80%, and for my reading experience and as much as I have like a couple of Ambrose's other books, that is highly unusual.

[Andrew Rothstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good friend recommended this because he liked it. I think the attraction would be the details of the remarkable transcontinental railroad was built. No doubt it was an amazing engineering achievement and an audacious idea. If you like to know a lot about how a railroad of such magnitude could have been built essentially without power tools, this is the book for you.

Frankly, I got a bit bored with all of the details and wanted more human interest. Also, something about Ambrose's writing makes me feel like he only wants to focus on the glorious engineering of the American and make light of some of its tragic consequence. It is subtle, to be sure. Ambrose acknowledges that he wanted to focus on how the railroad was built, rather than the broader issues, but I think that decision made the story bland.
It is fair enough to build a story about an amazing effort that changed the country, and to honor those who made it happen. But it is equally important to recognize the some of the offsetting negatives that come with it and far more interesting to examine the human consequences and social forces involved.

For example, he makes clear that the "Indians" were a "problem" and were viewed as "savages" (even using the word without quotes), but little more. He acknowledges that the Indian way of life was being destroyed, but moves on with no commentary.

Another example: Ambrose made it clear that the work was grueling, with the gandy dancers exposed to the elements six days a week, doing everything manually, and many dying. But other than a journalistic mention of it, he doesn't seem to dive into the human toll and the social consequences of workers being treated that way.

[Immigration Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end of the Civil War united the American North and South once again. Four years after General Lee's surrender, the completed Transcontinental Railroad, further united the American continent East and West.

The sheer magnitude of the engineering task, in creating a rail system so huge in scope (so huge that there was literally nothing like it in the world), was a source of American pride in its industriousness, and an example of American creativity, ingenuity, and sheer willpower in project management.

Lincoln had the foresight to start planning to build the railroad as early as 1859. The Golden Spike at Promontory Summit in Utah was driven in 1869, a decade after the initial spark in Lincoln's expansive vision for our continent, his grand plan for our United States.

The Golden Spike finally and physically connected the Union Pacific RR (building from Omaha and going West to Utah) with the Central Pacific RR (building from Scaramento and going East to Utah). Lincoln's goal was seen to completion.

Hats off to the men of industry and finance; the U.S. Congress; Presidents Lincoln and Grant; General Sherman; the U.S. Military (active duty); the land surveyors, and grading engineers, who selected the route; and the laborers: retired civil war veterans, Chinese Immigrants, Irish and other European Immigrants, former Slaves, Mormons of Utah, and the remainder of the cast of characters (from all the other groups of laborers) who got the job done.

This wide variety of workers, from wildly different backgrounds -- proved once again that "from many, we are one." America is a nation of many different people, from many different ethnic and religious, and cultural backgrounds, from virtually every walk of life, but together, everyone (every single one) comprises the greater good, the united whole. God Bless the United States of America.

[Brooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ambrose makes non-fiction history an easy read with a similar writing style as John Grisham. The book is a very easy read but is filled with repeated anecdotes between chapters and in some cases missing context. The book covers the story of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, the men behind them, and the race to build the transcontinental railroad.

It focuses on the men who risked their fortunes to make even greater fortunes with the railroad. Ambrose does not spend much time on the Credit Mobilier scandals and the dark side of the financing. I usually enjoy histories of engineering projects but Ambrose is a military historian and glosses over the technical aspects. He focuses on the former Civil War generals becoming construction bosses. It really was a massive undertaking involving 10,000 men on each railroad and one of the first industries that had to have complex management structures to handle the logistics and planning. However, Ambrose’s work is filled with false praise of how ground breaking and unique this was. I don’t buy it. Technically, America could have built the transcontinental RR in the 1840s but could not start because of the route choice was too controversial for Congress (slave vs free state route). The unique aspect was the government sanctioning two companies to compete on the route to speed up the work. It was terribly inefficient since they ended up double the grading for 300 miles until Congress fixed the meeting point.

[N.N. Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. A must-read for historians and train lovers.

My Rating: 5 stars

Reviewed by: Mr. N

[David Eppenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what I expected from this book but it was more than what I got. I give it 3 stars which for me means it was a worthwhile read but nothing great. If you are interested in the history of the Transcontinental Railroad then this book will give you that history. The history is heavy on the financial aspects of this endeavor which is probably necessary since the building of this railroad resulted in the greatest financial scandal of the 19th century, the great Credit Mobilier fiasco. When I was in school and read about this affair I didn't understand it and after reading this book I still don't understand it. What I did understand was that the Union Pacific Railroad was run by a man that was more interested in taking advantage of government construction funding than he was in building a safe and durable railroad. Of course the Central Pacific Railroad bigwigs also probably had dirty hands but before their antics could be investigated their books were destroyed. How unfortunate a coincidence. What I am getting at is that this is a rather difficult book to get through unless you are particularly interested in railroad history or this particular bit of railroad history. God knows I nodded off all too frequently.

What I did find interesting was the impact the building of this railroad had and how the Civil War aided in the project. The building of this railroad was the largest corporate endeavor in the country's history. In fact it was the largest railroad project in the history of the world up to that time. The first thing it did was impact the structure of corporate management from that time forward. The scope and geography of the project relied heavily on the management structure of the U.S. military as it evolved during the Civil War. The fact that most of the men involved with the railroad were former veterans of that war made the adoption of military forms of organization and discipline easily understood and implemented. Without this alteration in the way business was conducted the project is likely to have been plagued by chaos and the natural obstacles confronting the builders provided more than enough troubles without management blundering adding more.

What really held my interest was the actual construction of the railroad. The logistics of operation between the two competing railroads were daunting and especially for the Central Pacific (CP). While the Union Pacific (UP) was able to transport its materials overland the CP needed to bring theirs from the East Coast via either the Isthmus of Panama or by going around Cape Horn. Then the CP had to tunnel through numerous mountains while the CP had mostly Western plains to traverse. Then the shortage of labor had the CP importing Chinese who proved invaluable as reliable workers while he UP had to rely on white men who frequently abandoned the job in order to go searching for gold or were routinely drunk or both. The obstacles for both railroads were formidable and this part of the story was captivating but in all honesty this is the kind of history that would have the average reader recoiling. Maybe a better author might have been able to convey the story in a more readable form but it was worth reading even if it was difficult. Enjoy?

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great story, well told. I couldn't put it down.

A great antidote for those who believe that our times are uniquely corrupt. The engineers and surveyors and foremen and workers are the heroes of this tale. The politicians and the businessmen -- most often the same crew -- are the villains. Even them Ambrose treats mostly with kindness. The progess across the Sierra, engineers and chinese laborers against the mountain and the snow, is spectacular. The personalities of Dodge and Judah are expecially vivid in this telling.

Are there people as big and as driven today? There must be. I'd guess they work at Google.

The sheer number of worker deaths, through accident and Indian fight and pure drunken violence is a reminder of how civilized and soft we've become in the intervening 140 years. But this was the generation that fought at Gettysburg and Shiloh. A few hundred deaths seemed to trouble almost no one.

Finally, I'm reminded that the US really wasn't a single nation until the line was completed. It took months for people, goods and information to go be steamer from New York to SanFrancisco. The risk of death from disease or shipwreck was high, as was the expense. The railroad cut the travel time to a week and knocked a "zero" off the price.

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Ambrose leaves no stone unturned in his piece on the building of the transcontinental railroad. If you want a comprehensive book on the building of the railroad, this is the book to choose. Ambrose covers the politics, the construction, the materials used, the conditions, the strikes, the corruption, the geography, the immigrant workers, the scheduling, the costs, really anything that you want to know about the 6 years of building one of the most important structures of the 19th century.
My only constructive criticism for the author: don't interject your opinion on the politics, corporations, etc. In my opinion, a non-fiction piece should been as objective and unbiased as possible and this is possible as I've read numerous works that are.
4.5 Stars

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book and learned a lot about how the Pacific Railroad was built. The author goes into a lot of detail about both the human and technical aspects and quotes extensively from original and secondary sources.

As my second Ambrose book, I'm starting to get a feel for his style: he's above all a chronicler and a compiler. I understand why he's criticized by more serious historians: his role is to gather all the information in one place and tell it, rather than do critical and original research, and true, I did notice a couple of missing quotation marks, but I don't have a problem with that. He tells a cohesive story and covers lots of ground, and then some.

I think the book could have been improved, though, if the author would have centred more around one or two main characters. That would have given the book more of a narrative arc and an attachment on the part of the reader to a few main characters. He seems to be trying to do that with Grenville Dodge, but he cuts in and out of his activities with so many different people: Collis Huntington, Doc Durant, The Casements, and so many others, that it's hard for the reader to be invested in any one character. If he would have chosen one figure from each of the two "fronts" - say Charles Crocker for the CP and Doc Durant for the UP, and treated them as "protagonists" in the literary sense, that would have made the book much more captivating.

Come to think of it, I think his book Band of Brothers (the only other of his books I've read so far) suffered from the same weakness. Understandably, that book was supposed to be about the "Band of Brothers" rather than any one character, but it would also have benefitted if he would have centred it around Dick Winters, which is what the book ended up doing anyway, so why not just structure it that way from the start?

Likewise, I also think the book fails to give you a sense of time and place. I got a hint of it in when the author describes "Hell on Wheels" or tunnelling through the summit near Donner Pass, but it still feels like something's lacking. I don't get a vivid enough sense of what it must have felt like at night on the endless prairies of Nebraska, or hanging off the cliffs at Cape Horn (in baskets, presumably). (Band of Brothers too - He does a good job with the "crossroads" on "The Island" and what it must have felt like on the road to Berchtesgaden, but most of the rest of the time, it feels like you're just "passing through.")

But I am being overly picky. Overall, I think it would have been hard to beat Ambrose's ability to balance detail and readability. The book is quite thorough without being too tedious. It taught me lots about a period of history I did not know too much about before and instilled in me a small passion for steam engines and the Old West. Perhaps for my next family vacation, I should make a road trip to Cheyenne.

[Mark Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a handful of 21st century writers in history who are also great storytellers. Goodwin (Team of Rivals, etc.) is one of them; Ambrose is/was another. This carefully researched volume about one of America’s greatest undertakings is a tightly-written, captivating yarn full of fascinating characters. The Big Four of the Central Pacific, Doc Durant and Grenville Dodge of the Union Pacific, Brigham Young and a host of other larger-than-life historical figures give this narrative great vitality.

Ambrose makes the race between America’s first two major corporations exciting. He describes the work and the challenges building the road in such detail that you think you can feel the weight of the rails in your hands, experience the winter storms in the Sierras or on the High Plains.

The transcontinental railway accelerated the end of the Native American way of life. The RR was built with the labor of underpaid and under-appreciated workers, especially Chinese and Irish immigrants. Corruption in top management was rife. And yet, the railway was an astounding achievement that transported the USA into modern times. It’s significance cannot be overstated.

I read far more fiction than non-fiction, but I love this book. Highly recommended.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The transcontinental railroad is an incredible feat of American ingenuity and engineering. This book excellently highlighted the extreme skills of several of the key individuals who made the great iron road possible. Throughout the book Ambrose concisely sees the sweeping effects the railroad has on the country. He makes you feel proud of the accomplishment for what it is but explains how the big businesses often deceived the people. This book gave me a huge appreciation for the ignored Chinese laborers who made the central Pacific possible. As well as the foresight of Lincoln and Grenville Dodge to begin the railroad to unite the east and west. The railroad made modern America possible. I'm not giving four stars because it is very repetitive. Each chapter is each company by year. Back and forth. The road itself was a repetitive process so I wish he would have focused more on some of the amazing stories than on the process of moving ties from Chicago to Utah. But I enjoyed the read and learned alot.

[Bailey Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book started a bit slow and had a lot of intricate economic information in the beginning, it was very interesting and I ended up learning a lot about this amazing feat. While I do like the author’s writing style for the most part, he does tend to randomly write very casual language that often does not fit with the rest of the book and can confuse the reader with the tone of the writing. I understand that the author is trying to make a book about history relatable, but I think that he could have done this without the breakdown of sentence structure and language. Overall, I am glad that I read this book, I just feel that there are parts that could have been improved upon.

[Dell Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating: 2.75
While the subject matter of this book is very interesting, the writing was not. Too much repetition and minutia. The parts I enjoyed the most were when he talked about the people who were involved in this incredible project. While, tedious, I did learn a lot and was glad I plowed through.

[Peter Colclasure · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first moved to Seattle in 2007 I met Tim, a history grad student who lived in the apartment above mine. Tim looked a bit like actor Michael Kelly (House of Cards) only with more hair, very personable, and he hosted a cocktail hour for fellow UW history majors every Friday in his apartment. One Friday, to my delight, he invited me up. I was a bit of a history buff, as they say, eager to discuss books and perhaps the Black Death with knowledgeable folks. Plus I was still new to Seattle and starved for friends, so maybe I'd meet someone cool and the rest of my life would feature coffee dates with my new history-friend, wearing argyle socks and rehashing our favorite Teaching Company courses, like a sitcom no one would watch.

This never happened, and I blame Stephen Ambrose.

Things got off to a good start at Tim’s party. Perhaps 12 people in the room. The Shins playing softly in the background. Din of academic chatter. I think I was handed a Stella Artois. Anyway, I was about two minutes into conversation with a cheerful and friendly future-historian who wore her hair in a bob, when in response to her question about which historians I liked I blurted out "Stephen Ambrose."

I shit you not, EVERY SINGLE person in the room stopped talking and turned to me with a horrified expression on their face, like I'd wandered into the SubPop offices and declared my love for Nickelback. Or strangled a puppy.

Tim sighed audibly, probably rethinking his decision to invite me. At that point I still had no idea what the deal was with Stephen Ambrose, but I got an earful over the next 20 minutes let me tell you. People were practically yelling. Basically: Ambrose plagiarizes the work of others, his research and methods are shoddy, he lied about his relationship with Eisenhower, and his books are filled with factual inaccuracies.

Okay, so all these things are true. And . . . yet . . . I really don’t care. I guess what I learned at Tim's apartment that afternoon is that I am not a history buff, I am a 'popular' history buff. And that's okay.

There is merit in history as entertainment. There is merit in movies like Braveheart and Gladiator. They kindle interest. They tell stories. And while Ambrose isn't quite as fast and loose with facts as Mel Gibson, he does prioritize readability over total accuracy. He's not afraid to speculate, to guess at the thoughts of a historical figure, or to generalize in broad strokes based on his gut feelings. This is bad history, but good writing.

I've occasionally tried to read legitimate academic history, like Joseph Strayer and Barbara Tuchman, but I flounder. It's gets boring really fast. Say what you will about Stephen Ambrose, but Undaunted Courage held my attention.

I am a man who wants to know more about history. I'm too smart for the History Channel (we can't prove aliens didn't build the pyramids) but I'm too dumb for Richard Hofstadter, so Ambrose is the perfect middlebrow historian for my mediocre intellect.

Okay, that being said, I didn't really like this book. Turns out my attention span for the building of the transcontinental railroad extends to a two-hour PBS American Experience documentary but not to a 15-hour audiobook. Many parts were interesting. The cutting of fills, the drilling of tunnels, the way they laid rail and ties and the accidents with the men, the constant murder and gambling and alcoholic stupors of the Union Pacific workers, the heroic diligence of the Chinese on the Central Pacific, the feats of engineering. I liked the early chapter where he details the three different ways one could reach California before the railroad: wagon-train, traversing the jungle of Panama, or taking a ship all the way around Cape Horn. It underscores just how vast the continent was at the time, how any communication or commerce between the two coasts took three or four months one way.

But much of the book was repetitive. One can read only so many descriptions of men yelling "Down!" as they lay rail. Of all the bankers and businessmen who organized the companies that built the railroads, the only two that I found engaging were Dodge and Durant. Dodge because he seemed upstanding and competent, and Durant because he was a scoundrel.

Turns out I have zero interest in the financial aspect of the railroads, the issuing of bonds and stocks and credit and the scandals that followed. There is a LOT of detail about the financial intricacies and the lobbying of congress for funding, and having just finished the book I can't even tell you what exactly the Crédit Mobilier scandal was about.

I felt like the tensions between the railroad laborers and the Native Americans were not explored in any revelatory way. There's practically zero exploration of what the railroads meant for their way of life, and the Indian attacks are rendered like a Western. For Ambrose, the westward expansion of America was inevitable and the magnificence of the railroad obscures the destruction of the Native way of life. I mean, I read a book about the railroads because it does seem like a magnificent achievement, and yet the treatment of the Native Americans was a humanitarian tragedy.

Also, I never got a whiff of political bias in any other Ambrose book but here he seems staunchly anti-union and makes of a point of it, which is lame. Railroad workers are attempting to strike for sick days, as I write this.

This book did make me want to visit the railroad museum in Sacramento, however. Trains are cool. Ever see The Station Agent?

[Jan Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the men who built the transcontinental Railroad and the building of that road. This is a very informative book. There were lots of problem - route, finances, man labor, building problems, etc. Without the Chinese, the railroad may never have been built. This book covers many aspects of the history surrounding the transcontinental railroad,. The reader learns about the Big Four men who were instrumental in bringing it to fruition. It's a slice of American history that changed America. I am glad that I read it.

[Ashley Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Did I enjoy this subject yes. Would I recommend this book? Maybe. It’s not written amazingly, but it’s so interesting to hear about the laborers that produced the train. Specifically Mormons men role in getting this done. As well as Chinese crews who were treated awful but did so much of the work.

[J.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely a very interesting book about one of most important events of the nineteenth century--if not American history. I just feel it wasn't told as well as some of Ambrose's other books, like "Undaunted Courage" or "Band of Brothers." Here are a few of my complaints:

1) The narrative is VERY repetitive. It seems that Ambrose is constantly saying the same thing over and over again, especially with regards to how the U.P. was always strapped for cash, or how hard it was to dig tunnels through mountains.

2) Pacing issues at the beginning made it hard to really get into the story. I realize financing of the transcontinental railroad is an important part of the story, but it is definitely the least interesting, narratively speaking. I would have LOVED a lot fewer pages on the Credit Mobilier, and a lot more on the Ten-Mile Day, hell-on-wheel towns, and the technology of the locomotives themselves (especially the early history of their use starting in Europe). Unfortunately the first half of the book is dedicated solely to conversations on bonds, subsidies, land grants, dividends, corporations, etc.

3) A lot of the railroad jargon isn't really explained. I remember having to look up "fishplate," "siding," "fireman," and others. I feel it is the author's job to explain these terms, not the reader to look them up.

4) There were many factual errors. Ambrose mentions the Utah state legislature, when it should be Utah territorial legislature. He refers to the the 1906 San Francisco fire, when he should've said 1906 San Francisco earthquake. I've been told there are actually many more. It makes you wonder why these weren't caught in editing.

5) Ambrose is WAY too much in love with the founders/owners of the UP and CP, almost to the point of being an apologist for these unscrupulous--though admittedly, visionary--men. Personally, I would've loved to have followed the journey of a particular Irish or Chinese laborer from their homeland to Promontory as a framing device for the narrative, instead of just reading of the financial cunning of greedy men, or the slave-driving supervisors constantly pushing laborers.

Other than these few complaints, this was still a good book with some very fun parts. My personal favorites to read about were the insane task of building the summit tunnel through the Sierra Nevada, the stories of conflicts with the Indians, and especially how Jack Casement brutally cleaned up Julesburg (a Hell-on-Wheels town) of the gamblers who had overrun the place. Definitely a book worth picking up.

FUN FACT: I actually purchased my copy of the book at the Golden Spike National Historic Monument in Promontory, Utah during the 150th anniversary celebration there last year.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

My history reading journey is usually prodded along by books I have read. That is, I no longer have a master plan for what I want to read and when, especially for books covering events like this one. Instead, I usually turn to these types of books when the event comes up in a biography or other book I’m reading and I say to myself “I don’t know much about that, I need to read a book about it.”

The building of the transcontinental railroad in America kept coming up during my readings of Lincoln, Grant, and other giants during the Civil War period, and I kept making note of it, but kept putting it off for another day. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t a Civil War era biography but Alan Greenspan’s that finally made me take the time to read this, as he was a great admirer of business entrepreneurs and railroad tycoons like James J. Hill. Hill is not directly related to the events here, but I didn’t know that because I didn’t know much at all about the history of railroad building in the US. I’m glad Greenspan provided the final prodding for me to choose this book, because the transcontinental railroad was a life altering, quintessential American achievement worthy of celebrating that occurred alongside the devastating Civil War when Americans desperately needed such an achievement.

Ambrose’s work is definitely benevolent in nature, it is celebratory, it is highlighting the good of how it was built and the ‘good within humans’ that made it possible, and that’s a big part of why I liked this book so much and gave it the high rating. The corruption that occurred, the harsh working conditions we can’t imagine today, the racism (primarily against the Chinese American builders) and other ‘bad within humans’ traits are a big part of the story, and they are covered quite thoroughly, but the negative aspects of the project aren’t the core drivers of how the rail was built. The rail building required the best of what humans have to offer - ingenuity, great vision, taking risks, hard work, drive, team work, etc. - and without these ingredients it wouldn’t have been built. The bad was a drag on the good, some of it unavoidable for the time period and some of it that came with certain characters and events. In some cases, it actually made the work harder to finish. Do I want to learn more details about the bad, like the organized corruption that occurred and the government’s involvement? Sure, but I don’t want it to bury the good people and achievements driven by the good that need to be remembered and learned from, like Civil Engineer and surveyor (and businessman in my eyes) Theodore Judah, uncorrupt politicians like Lincoln, all the way down to the amazing work of the countless American workers (and especially the Chinese) who actually laid the rail. Ambrose doesn’t let the bad bury the good. I understand why this positive take on the subject might be unpopular today, as the story also includes impacts on westward expansion and Native American populations/treatment. So if you can’t stomach a positive take on the subject, this book isn’t for you, but know that Ambrose doesn’t ignore the negatives as some reviews make it seem, he celebrates the good.

So why is this a quintessential American achievement, why is it so monumental in nature, and why should it be admired? Ambrose subtly makes additions to his case throughout, but I think it can be covered by breaking the achievement down into categories and using some of Ambrose’s best summaries:

As a perfect example of reaching for the American Dream and utilizing teamwork :

“The railroad took brains, muscle, and sweat in quantities and scope never before put into a single project. It could not have been done without a representative, democratic political system; without skilled and ambitious engineers, most of who had learned their craft in American colleges and hone it in the war; without bosses and foremen who had learned how to organize and lead men as officers in the Civil War; without free labor; without hardworking laborers who had learned how to take orders in the war; without those who came over to America in the thousands from China, seeking a fortune; without laborers speaking many languages and coming to America from every inhabited continent; without the trees and iron available in America; without capitalists willing to take high risks for great profit; without men willing to challenge all, at every level, in order to win all. Most of all, it could not have been done without teamwork.”

As an engineering feat:

“Next to winning the Civil War and abolishing slavery, building the first transcontinental railroad, from Omaha, Nebraska, to Sacramento California, was the greatest achievement of the American people in the 19th century. Not until the completion of the Panama Canal in the early twentieth century was it rivaled as an engineering feat.”

As a life altering change:

“Of all the things done by the first transcontinental railroad, nothing exceeded the cuts in time and cost it made for people traveling across the continent. Before the Mexican War, during the Gold Rush that started in 1848, through the 1850s, and until after the Civil War ended in 1865, it took a person months and might cost more than $1000 to go from New York to San Francisco…But Less than a week after the pounding of the Golden Spike, a man or woman could go from New York to San Francisco in seven days. That included stops. So fast, they used to say, ‘that you don’t even have time to take a bath.’ And the cost to go from New York to San Francisco, as listed in the summer of 1869, was $150 for first class, $70 for emigrant…”

“Together, the transcontinental railroad and the telegraph made modern America possible. Things that could not be imagined before the Civil War now became common. A nationwide stock market, for example. A continent-wide economy in which people, agricultural products, coal, and minerals moved wherever someone wanted to send them, and did so cheaply and quickly. A continent-wide culture in which mail and popular magazines and books that used to cost dollars per ounce and had taken forever to get from the East to the West Coast, now cost pennies and got there in a few days. Entertainers could move from one citty another in a matter of hours.”

Overall:

“None of this might have happened if different choices had been made, by any one of the foregoing groups and individuals. But a choice made is made, it cannot be changed. 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.”

About the actual writing and flow… the book moves at a fast pace and covers a lot of ground efficiently, but I wasn’t super attached to the writing. I do like how the chapters are set up to allow you to follow along with the actual race that was occurring between the UP and CP across the continent (another quintessential American ingredient, market competition) by switching between both companies and showing how the finish line looked to both at different time periods. But I wish there were pauses and more focus/deep dives into individuals (he does do a good job with Judah in this regard, but with other characters not as much). It is unfortunate a more detailed, personal account of an individual actually working on the rails was not available to him, as it could have added a bit more color, but overall, there’s enough here to get a great, big picture. The positive slant for the takeaway is obviously present throughout, but the writing is unbiased enough for the curious to get additional sources for more details on the corruption that was present or other unfortunate circumstances. So this is a great overview of how the transcontinental railroad was built with plenty of information and detours uncovered to prod you toward finding a future read.

[Jan C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I expected more from this book and Ambrose. Although - was this the book where it was questioned whether he lifted quotes? Not sure if it was this book or not.

I read a couple of the reviews before picking this back up recently. I know, I always say that I never read them. And I usually don't. But since there was little/no suspense to the outcome of the book I thought, what could it hurt? The answer is: I don't know - because I looked.

Anyway, I find I have to agree with some of them. It was a let down. And, he did seem to be letting the Big Four and the Ames brothers (not the singing group) and Durant off the hook. As soon as I read that they organized the Credit Mobilier to funnel funds through, I was reminded that it was one of the major scandals of the mid-late 19th century. He does touch on the exposé of the scandal but still lets them off the hook, because of what they accomplished. Of course, what they did was good but they could have paid people instead of holding on to the money and funneling it to their friends and congressmen to do their bidding. When I was in college I remember reading that some of the railroadmen were complaining about how the congressmen kept coming back and wanting more money. They shouldn't have started paying them in the first place.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very well researched book. The way in which the Transcontinental Railroad was built is an amazing feat for America in engineering as well as business and labor. The biggest flaw of this book (and why just the average rating) is that this book reads too much like a historical lecture. I know this is a book on the history but it was just too dry. I enjoy Ambrose's writing (author of Band of Brothers and multiple other books) I just thought the tone of the book was lacking. If you are really into this particular part of history this book is probably a can't miss but if you are just looking for something interesting and engaging for this subject, I think this is a pass.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed description of the building of the transcontinental and all the politics, economics and difficult terrain to complete the project.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambrose shines light on an incredible endeavor , an engineering feat that far surpasses the imagination and where death and catastrophe could be around the next bend . 4 1/2 stars

[Richard Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a railroad and history buff, I enjoyed reading this story of the building of the transcontinental railroad. I generally like Ambrose’s armchair conversational style and thought the story structure alternating between events on the Central Pacific and Union Pacific was appropriate. However, I feel he relied too much on quotations from other books and diaries and not enough personal narrative. This slowed down the pace of the book. The details regarding the shenanigans of the railway directors and financiers and the recounting of the obstacles faced by the laborers were interesting and captured my imagination. However, I was disappointed in his heavy reliance on anecdotal information that has been attacked by a number of historians according to a recent Stanford University history project. In particular Edson Strobridge, a descendent of the CP construction manager, took him to task over his description of Chinese laborers being suspended from reed baskets over cliffs at Cape Horn. Although the workers had to build perpendicular rock cuts, the slope of the Cape was between 50 and 75 degrees and so they wouldn’t have been hanging from baskets. I also thought some of his conclusions were a bit over the top. Although the building of the transcontinental railroad was certainly an important event. Ambrose tried to say that it was the most significant accomplishment in the history of mankind, which is an overstatement to say the least. He published the book in 2000 and didn’t even mention the entry into the U.S. and Soviet space programs and astronauts landing on the moon when making comparisons. I think he made this exaggerated claim to reinforce his book title “Nothing Like it in the World” which was a quote he used from Silas Seymour, consulting engineer for the UP. Overall, this book doesn’t match other books I’ve read by Ambrose, such as Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage, but it’s worth reading for fun by anyone interested in railroad history. Just know that everything written in it can’t be taken at face value.

[J.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The terminus of a lengthy train kick for me. I've read other books by Ambrose, but this one was a long slog. If his objective was to make the reader vicariously experience the arduous building of the transcontinental railroad then he succeeded. The interlocking stories of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads are well stocked with admirable heroes such as Theodore Judah (with whom I share a birthdate) and Grenville Dodge, as well as detestable villains like the Big Four and Doc Durant. The surveyors, engineers, and thousands of workers who brought the railroad into being deserve more credit than history is able to afford them. As a feat of engineering it was without rival, and the symbolism of a united country so soon after the Civil War was paramount. There is fascinating history here, particularly for a lifelong resident of Utah such as myself, and Ambrose writes it well, if redundantly. Like riding the train cross country there are some spectacular vistas interspersed throughout the monotony.

UPDATE: In terms of giving more credit to the workers who made it possible, some of them worked for my 3rd great-grandfather, William F. Tolley! He was one of the railroad contractors who was responsible for grading Echo Canyon. The task was divided among 40+ contractors; his section was the second up the canyon, approximately two miles in from the mouth. His crew was one among many who performed the labor described in Chapter Thirteen: Brigham Young and the Mormons Make Their Grade 1868.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 'Golden Spike' of my 2020 reading year has been driven in a fitting way. This is a solid account of a seminal event in American history. Perhaps not up to level of David McCullough's great building project books (the Brooklyn Bridge and Panama Canal) but certainly a fine effort. There is a fairly boring amount of financial machinations which while perhaps necessary to the story, sort of lessened the interest level. The craziness of the financing and land deals led eventually to what Ambrose called the greatest financial scandal of the 19th century, the Credit Mobilier scandal. But the story is fun and captivating even if the end is obviously not in doubt. This is the story of how it was done. The technical challenges of such a project using almost all manual labor (aside from the massive amount of explosives used) simply cannot be imagined today. Hundreds certainly died and many more were injured. Weather of course played a huge role with the winter snows of 1866-67 in the Sierra considered some of the heaviest on record. Ambrose mentions 44 winter storms that year. Unfortunately, reliable snow records seem to date from only 1879 in the Sierra so hard to know just how bad it was. The different roles of the many Chinese and Irish immigrants in the building of the railroad are emphasized and the key contributions of the Mormons in Utah are also highlighted. The maps are ok, but spread out a bit but there are quite few excellent photos. In all a fine book, perhaps would say 3.5 stars but feeling generous on this last day of a dismal year!

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was surprised how I got bogged down in this book. I had read "Undaunted Courage" and "Citizen Soldiers" and enjoyed them well enough, but this one was just a long dull slog. Well researched, I suppose, but poorly written. The descriptions of the Chinese workers tunneling through the Sierra Nevadas were interesting, but the rest... well, the author really seems to have phoned this one in. And the repetition! An example: "Mail that once cost dollars per ounce and took forever now cost pennies and got from Chicago to California in a few days." Then, just TWO PARAGRAPHS later: "Mail and popular magazines and books that used to cost dollars per ounce and had taken forever to get from the East to the West Coast, now cost pennies and got there in a few days." Did anyone proof-read this book? It's so repetitive! It just keeps repeating itself. It says the same thing over and over. It's... repetitive!

Two words: Skip it.

[Michael Gerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am fascinated with trains. They travel far and carry people and goods for countless other people. So it was with much interest that I started this book.

I found it tedious at the start, as the abundance of technical details stumped my non-engineering mind. As I progressed, however, the narrative became better with the other nuances of the building of a railway that connects the East Coast and the West Coast of the USA. The seed of an idea; the organization of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific companies; the Americans, the Irish, the Chinese, the Native Americans, and others who did the back-breaking work; the struggle, the shenanigans, the trials, and the eventual triumph of the endeavor; all of them are here.