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"Railroads United States History 20th century."
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Iron horses : America's race to bring the railroads west
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 his book, Borneman examines 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.
Book
Railroads and the American People
In this social history of the impact of railroads on American life, H. Roger Grant concentrates on the railroad's \"golden age,\" 1830-1930. To capture the essence of the nation's railroad experience, Grant explores four fundamental topics-trains and travel, train stations, railroads and community life, and the legacy of railroading in America-illustrating each topic with carefully chosen period illustrations. Grant recalls the lasting memories left by train travel, both of luxurious Pullman cars and the grit and grind of coal-powered locals. He discusses the important role railroads played for towns and cities across America, not only for the access they provided to distant places and distant markets but also for the depots that were a focus of community life. Finally, Grant reviews the lasting heritage of the railroads as it has been preserved in word, stone, paint, and memory. Railroads and the American People is a sparkling paean to American railroading by one of its finest historians.
eBook
American Railroad Labor and the Genesis of the New Deal, 1919-1935
American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. Jon Huibregtse challenges this perspective in his examination of the railroad unions of the time, arguing that not only were they active, but that they made a big difference in American Labor practices by helping to set legal precedents.
Huibregtse explains how efforts by the Plumb Plan League and the Railroad Labor Executive Association created the Railroad Labor Act, its amendments, and the Railroad Retirement Act. These laws became models for the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. Unfortunately, the significant contributions of the railroad laws are, more often than not, overlooked when the NLRA or Social Security are discussed.
Offering a new perspective on labor unions in the 1920s, Huibregtse describes how the railroad unions created a model for union activism that workers' organizations followed for the next two decades.
eBook
Railroads and the American people
In this social history of the impact of railroads on American life, H. Roger Grant concentrates on the railroad's \"\"golden age,\"\" 1830-1930. To capture the essence of the nation's railroad experience, Grant explores four fundamental topics-trains and travel, train stations, railroads and community life, and the legacy of railroading in America-illustrating each topic with carefully chosen period illustrations. Grant recalls the lasting memories left by train travel, both of luxurious Pullman cars and the grit and grind of coal-powered locals. He discusses the important role railroads played
Book
Harriman vs. Hill
In 1901, the Northern Pacific was an unlikely prize: a twice-bankrupt construction of the federal government, it was a two-bit railroad (literally-five years back, its stock traded for twenty-five cents a share). But it was also a key to connecting eastern markets through Chicago to the rising West. Two titans of American railroads set their sights on it: James J. Hill, head of the Great Northern and largest individual shareholder of the Northern Pacific, and Edward Harriman, head of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. The subsequent contest was unprecedented in the history of American enterprise, pitting not only Hill against Harriman but also Big Oil against Big Steel and J. P. Morgan against the Rockefellers, with a supporting cast of enough wealthy investors to fill the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria.
The story, told here in full for the first time, transports us to the New York Stock Exchange during the unfolding of the earliest modern-day stock market panic.Harriman vs. Hillre-creates the drama of four tumultuous days in May 1901, when the common stock of the Northern Pacific rocketed from one hundred ten dollars a share to one thousand in a mere seventeen hours of trading-the result of an inadvertent \"corner\" caused by the opposing forces. Panic followed and then, in short order, a calamity for the \"shorts,\" a compromise, the near-collapse of Wall Street brokerages and banks, the most precipitous decline ever in American stock values, and the fastest recovery. Larry Haeg brings to life the ensuing stalemate and truce, which led to the forming of a holding company, briefly the biggest railroad combine in American history, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the deal, launching the reputation of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as the \"great dissenter\" and President Theodore Roosevelt as the \"trust buster.\" The forces of competition and combination, unfettered growth, government regulation, and corporate ambition-all the elements of American business at its best and worst-come into play in the account of this epic battle, whose effects echo through our economy to this day.
eBook
Harriman vs. Hill : Wall Street's great railroad war
\" In 1901, the Northern Pacific was an unlikely prize: a twice-bankrupt construction of the federal government, it was a two-bit railroad (literally--five years back, its stock traded for twenty-five cents a share). But it was also a key to connecting eastern markets through Chicago to the rising West. Two titans of American railroads set their sights on it: James J. Hill, head of the Great Northern and largest individual shareholder of the Northern Pacific, and Edward Harriman, head of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. The subsequent contest was unprecedented in the history of American enterprise, pitting not only Hill against Harriman but also Big Oil against Big Steel and J. P. Morgan against the Rockefellers, with a supporting cast of enough wealthy investors to fill the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria. The story, told here in full for the first time, transports us to the New York Stock Exchange during the unfolding of the earliest modern-day stock market panic. Harriman vs. Hill re-creates the drama of four tumultuous days in May 1901, when the common stock of the Northern Pacific rocketed from one hundred ten dollars a share to one thousand in a mere seventeen hours of trading--the result of an inadvertent \"corner\" caused by the opposing forces. Panic followed and then, in short order, a calamity for the \"shorts,\" a compromise, the near-collapse of Wall Street brokerages and banks, the most precipitous decline ever in American stock values, and the fastest recovery. Larry Haeg brings to life the ensuing stalemate and truce, which led to the forming of a holding company, briefly the biggest railroad combine in American history, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the deal, launching the reputation of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as the \"great dissenter\" and President Theodore Roosevelt as the \"trust buster.\" The forces of competition and combination, unfettered growth, government regulation, and corporate ambition--all the elements of American business at its best and worst--come into play in the account of this epic battle, whose effects echo through our economy to this day. \"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Harriman vs. Hill
In 1901, two titans of American railroads set their sights on the Northern Pacific. The subsequent battle was unprecedented in the history of American enterprise, pitting not only James J. Hill against Edward Harriman but also Big Oil against Big Steel and J. P. Morgan against the Rockefellers, with a supporting cast of enough wealthy investors to fill the Waldorf Astoria's ballroom.
Book