Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869

Loved this book. Tremendous detail of a monumental detail that somehow keep me riveted to getting through it. Full of amazing facts and background that few Americans have any knowledge of. For anyone with an iota of interest in Americas history it is a must read. Top notch research and so well written.

I've read many books on building the Transcontinental Railroad and IMHO, this is the best, bar none. I bought another copy for my grandson who loves history.

This is my fourth Ambrose book and may be my last. He spent the entire book expounding on the successes of the capitalist investors, all while describing the grift, bribery, corruption, and outright fraud they committed to get rich at all costs, as if they were virtuous men. Feels like a book straight out of the Gordon Gecko 80s rather than the year 2000.In the forward, he went so far as to make the point that workers weren't exploited or abused and everyone working on the railroad wanted to be there. A dozen chapters in though, and he's describing a Chinese labor strike where their chief complaints were they didn't want to get whipped, and they didn't want to be restrained when they tried to leave and find other employment. They were being poorly paid slaves not allowed to leave, and after researching that and putting it in the book, Ambrose comes back and writes a foreward that says they all wanted to be there. Unreal.Deaths of twenty or men at a time rate less than a paragraph, one of the investors falling ill takes up most of a chapter.This book is just a tribute to greedy, cheating, corrupt monopolists. I'm actually really disappointed.

Extremely detailed accounting of how this whole thing got started including the surveying and the difficult time of lining up the funding for this supremely expensive project.I found it interesting but very ponderous to read.

Was highly recommended but price went up about 25% since I added it to my cart

Ambrose has created a page turning history that is full of vivid, colorful detail that brings every chapter of this complex history to life. he also brings out the big picture significance. a stirring narrative that changed how i see the 19th century.

What a wonderful story of building the TRR! Have driven I 80 and seen those fantastic snow sheds high in the Sierra Mountains as well as waited and cussed those freight trains as a boy waiting for them to clear track so I could get home or to school in Elko, Nevada. Many of my friend's parents or even they came to eventually work for the Railroad. I was fortunate to see one of the very few Railroad Relocation Projects ( at taxpayers expense) which built overpasses over the Railroad and changed many streets and in some cases even the Humboldt River. This project was also sold on the basis called PROJECT LIFESAVER for the hospital was numerous times on the wrong side of the tracks. These few demonstrator projects were extremely expensive as you can imagine. The pictures of the RR's building are priceless. The corruption fostered by such a huge project seemed inevitable but eventually got the job done. I would agree as some said an eighth wonder of the world!

THe story of the transcontinetal railroad is fasinating. Any American history buff will enjoy this book.

Entertaining and informative with plenty of technical detail, political background and insights into the lives of the Irish and Chinese men who actually constructed the railroad.

I was a bit disappointed with this book. I really loved "Undaunted Courage," but this was just dry and unexciting. There is very little human interest here (although what there is, is pretty interesting) and mostly just description of how the railroad was actually built. Unless you have some interest in engineering, than this just drags. He even spends pages just quoting letters about how much of this was needed, or how much of that, or why it wasn't coming fast enough. I really had to try hard not to fall asleep. These details could have been included in the narrative. It just makes for bad writing.It seems from this that the book was written in a hurry. The real exciting stuff (the bribery, corruption etc..that made the building of the transcontinental railroad such a scandal) is barely mentioned (which he did on purpose) and a good portion is literally just quotes, as if he couldn't be bothered to write an actual story. The only really interesting parts come when Ambrose speaks about the lives of the men who built the railroad. But strangely, though the title says otherwise, this book is not so much about the men, but about their job.The one thing, though, that stands out from this book, is that the building of the transcontinental railroad was one of the most significant changes in the lives of nineteenth century Americans. Only the civil war had a more profound effect on the nation. While the war united the country north to south, the railroad connected it east to west. It was an incredible achievement and proved that the young nation was a force to be reckoned with.All in all, if you really have a keen interest in the subject, I would look for a better book. This is real popular history and not very good, at that.

I really enjoyed this book, which is a very well written account of the dramatic first expedition to cross North America for the US government. Lewis and Clark were pioneering explorers of the first rank and left a good deal of material on which this book draws, as indeed have many others. What I think sets this book apart is the pace of the narrative as well as the well drawn characters. The earlier chapters which set the scene and describes Merriweather Lewis' early life are fascinating insight into the life a Virginia planter in the early days of the new nation. The author catches the excitement of Lewis, Jefferson and the academic world of Philadelphia in the preparations for the journey. The it is on to the excitements as well as the frustrations of the journey to St Louis and up the Missouri. We are helped to see this new world through the eyes of Lewis, Clark and their Corps of Discovery. What fascinating insights into places which will never be seen in this way again. The struggles over the Rockies and down the Columbia river to the Pacific Ocean are full of details to further get the imagination going. The long wet winter on the West Coast follows and then the return trip. The closing chapters are slower, but they are the necessary conclusion to the account. A great book. Read it.

I came to this after reading several books about another great transcontinental railroad - the CPR. Unfortunately this book suffers greatly in comparison. It is very confusingly written (especially if you are not a citizen of the USA) The maps are very poor and are in totally the wrong places so it is very difficult to understand where the action is taking place. it is only after a while that it became clear that the railroad was not trans-continental at all but started in the middle of the continent and headed westwards. In addition the chronology is very difficult to follow as it jumps from one side of the continent to the other and forwards and backwards in time. It is also extremely repetitive. I gather from other reviews that there are many historical errors and that the research effort was obviously limited. Having said all this, it does give a flavour of the achievement and I'm interested to have read it - so three stars.

I've watched every season of the "Hell on Wheels" made for TV shows. This book explains in detail the who, what, when, where why of building the transcontinental railroad. Stephen Ambrose's nonfiction book is not just a dry history book.After watching the shows, it gives us greater clarity on just what a great feat it was to build it. For those who haven't read the book but watched the shows, the Cullen Bohannon character was fashioned from General Dodge who was given a leave of absence to head up and drive the project through. Not finished the book yet so can't give away the ending.