Details
Synopsis
Historian Jill Jonnes recounts the mammoth construction project, begun in 1901, to carve tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers through which trains would carry people to and from Manhattan, Long Island, and New Jersey. Jonnes tells many complex and dramatic stories, about land purchase, construction and design challenges, and human obstacles such as politicos and unions. She does not discount that the incredibly bold and dangerous undertaking involved death and injury for workers, while acknowledging that one of the grand results was the magnificent Roman-style edifice known as Pennsylvania Station, which was ignominiously torn down in the '60s. Financed solely by the resources of the Pennsylvania Rail Road, this ambitious undertaking was to forever change the city and the region, and Jonnes's account captures the adventurous spirit of the turn of the century, while reminding us that, for better or for worse, such an adventure would not be possible today.
| Size | | Length: | 368 pages | | Height: | 9.3 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 20.8 oz |
Industry Reviews
"...Jonnes's elegy to a mighty engineering feat is clearly reported and populated with a well-delineated cast of robber barons, heroic builders and a few crooks sporting handlebar mustaches."
(02/01/2007)
"Superb....Ms. Jonnes's first-rate narrative tracks the tunnels, the station and the times in which they were conceived, dug and built."
(05/03/2007)
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