722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York - Softcover

Hood, Clifton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801852447 ISBN 13: 9780801852442

Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1995

Synopsis

Clifton Hood traces the complex and fascinating history of the New York City subway system. At its opening in 1904, the tracks covered the twenty-two miles from City Hall up to 145th Street and Broadway, the longest stretch ever built at one time. From that initial route through the completion of the IND, the Independent Subway, in the 1940s, the subway grew to cover 722 miles -- long enough to reach from New York to Chicago.

"Clifton Hood's 722 Miles is the fullest and most authoritative account of the building and impact of the New York City subways, the most extensive system of urban transportation in the United States and perhaps the world." -- Nathan Glazer, Harvard University

"A clear, perceptive and carefully researched study of this engineering feat and the ways in which the subway led to an expansion of the metropolitan area." -- Publishers Weekly

About this title

About the Author:

Clifton Hood is assistant professor of history at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. He was formerly a curator of the LaGuardia Archives at LaGuardia College, City University of New York.

Review:

"A clear, perceptive and carefully researched study of this engineering feat and the ways in which the subway led to an expansion of the metropolitan area." -- Publishers Weekly

"One of the best urban-transportation histories to come down the tracks in a long time... In this age, when privatization is widely hailed as a cure for all that ails public life, Hood's book provides some useful perspective." -- The Sciences

"A fascinating story... Hood's extensively researched and highly readable book... conveys the enormity of the project in terms of size, technical challenges faced, and personal tragedies incurred... A fine urban transportation history." -- Lexington Quarterly

""An eminently readable book... Describes how the subway attempted to meet the enormous need to move urban residents far faster than any existing form of mass transit (primarily the elevated railway and the streetcar) and disperse the growing population into unsettled areas at the fringe of the city." -- Railroad History

"An interesting read, describing how the subway helped shape New York City." -- Trains

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0801852447
• ISBN 13: 9780801852442
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352
• Illustrator: Illus. With Photos