The World the Railways Made - Hardcover

Faith, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1781858365 ISBN 13: 9781781858363

Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2014

Synopsis

A new edition of a railway classic: how the "Iron Road" turned the world upside down, with a new chapter on the future of rail

The modern world began with the arrival of the railway. The shock was both sudden and universal: between 1825, when the first passenger service linked Stockton and Darlington, and the outbreak of World War I, railways redefined, transformed, and expanded the limits of the civilized world. With railways came the development of modern capitalism, of modern nations, and the opening-up of new regions. The "Iron Road" transformed all aspects of society. For some the railway represented the horrors of industrial development; for others the way toward a brighter future; for all it meant deep and lasting change. From the financiers who provided unprecedented amounts of capital, to the immigrant laborers who built them, Nicholas Faith explores the mechanical revolution that turned the world upside down.

About this title

About the Author:

Nicholas Faith writes for the Independent on Sunday (London) and many other publications, and is the author of The Bronfmans. Christian Wolmar is the author of Blood, Iron & Gold; Engines of War; and The Great Railroad Revolution.

From Kirkus Reviews:

``I will send the locomotive as the great missionary over the world,'' boasted George Stephenson, father of the steam locomotive. In this sweeping social history, British journalist Faith (Sold: The Revolution in the Art Market, 1985; Safety in Numbers, 1982, etc.) vividly conveys the allure of this invention for Stephenson and millions like him during its heyday. Faith examines the changes wrought by railroads in every facet of people's lives, emphasizing the period from 1825, when the first railway line was built, to WW I, just before the railway began to lose pride of technological place to the automobile. As a prose writer, Faith gets by more on serviceable efficiency than on style, and sometimes, despite his stated intent, he exaggerates the importance of his subject (``The modern world began with the coming of the railways''). Nevertheless, he impressively marshals a host of examples to demonstrate that railways ``provided...the human spirit...with the first and most shattering mechanically-induced shock they had ever experienced or are ever likely to experience.'' Canvassing the world, he shows how railroads bound far-flung lands into nations, spawned new industries and species of capitalists, spread imperialism and political corruption, speeded vast armies to battlefields, and even improved dietary standards. Interspersed with his analysis are anecdotes, ``individual pen portraits,'' and events involving railroads, including ones of William Wordsworth, the first major critic of the invention; Fred Harvey, whose chain restaurants throughout the Santa Fe railroad system made him rich and famous; and the real-life Civil War incident that inspired Buster Keaton's The General. A bounty of railroad lore for anyone who fondly remembers Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, Thomas Wolfe's lyrical description of rail journeys into the American heartland, or even their own rides on the locomotive. (Thirty-six pages of b&w photos.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1781858365
• ISBN 13: 9781781858363
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368