F
frank
Guest
I thought I’d tell you folks about a railroading book I read recently. If any of you have
books or videos that you’ve seen or read of interest, maybe you could enlighten me and
others as well in this thread.
Ok, here goes:
1. Nothing Like It in the World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad
1863-1869
by Stephen E. Ambrose
Hardcover - 431 pages (August 29, 2000)
Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 0684846098
I’m a big fan of Mr. Ambrose, who left us in the Fall of 2002. In my mind, he was the
best historical writer of modern times. His detail of Easy Company in “Band Of
Brothers” is one of the greatest re-statings of history on the books, if you ask me. At the
same time I would mention that the music for “Band Of Brothers”, by Michael Kamen, is
my all time favorite credit roll (intro/exit) music. He also left us recently, another early
loss. Mr. Ambrose also steered the same two moviemakers, Speilberg and Hanks, as a
consultant for “Saving Private Ryan”, another unbelievable feat.
But Stephen Ambrose’s telling of the building of the Trans-continental railway was so
overly written as to make me beg for the book to be half as long as it was. After what
seemed like years of reading about rail and tie shipments, there were more pages of rail
and tie shipments. I read this book while going cross country on rail, and this book made
the actual journey seem rapid.
The next book I”ll review is much better.
Frank
books or videos that you’ve seen or read of interest, maybe you could enlighten me and
others as well in this thread.
Ok, here goes:
1. Nothing Like It in the World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad
1863-1869
by Stephen E. Ambrose
Hardcover - 431 pages (August 29, 2000)
Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 0684846098
I’m a big fan of Mr. Ambrose, who left us in the Fall of 2002. In my mind, he was the
best historical writer of modern times. His detail of Easy Company in “Band Of
Brothers” is one of the greatest re-statings of history on the books, if you ask me. At the
same time I would mention that the music for “Band Of Brothers”, by Michael Kamen, is
my all time favorite credit roll (intro/exit) music. He also left us recently, another early
loss. Mr. Ambrose also steered the same two moviemakers, Speilberg and Hanks, as a
consultant for “Saving Private Ryan”, another unbelievable feat.
But Stephen Ambrose’s telling of the building of the Trans-continental railway was so
overly written as to make me beg for the book to be half as long as it was. After what
seemed like years of reading about rail and tie shipments, there were more pages of rail
and tie shipments. I read this book while going cross country on rail, and this book made
the actual journey seem rapid.
The next book I”ll review is much better.
Frank