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Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America
Bottom of the pile
16
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
25/100Critics
7/100Scholars
Author:
Michael Hiltzik
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date:
August 11, 2020
In 1869, when the final spike was driven into the Transcontinental Railroad, few were prepared for its seismic aftershocks. Once a hodgepodge of short, squabbling lines, Americaâs railways soon exploded into a titanic industry helmed by a pageant of speculators, crooks, and visionaries.
What The Reviewers Say
The maneuvers and countermaneuvers of the railroad titans can be dizzying. It takes Hiltzik four chapters to cover the 1901 effort by Harriman to take control of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which ended only when Morgan set up a trust that assumed control over both that line and the competing Great Northern Railway (an arrangement the Supreme Court soon declared illegal). An able narrator, with an eye for telling detail, Hiltzik makes what otherwise might seem arcane financial details engrossing.
Hiltzik pokes among the ghostly bones of tycoons past but doesn’t generally offer a new interpretation. Mr. Hiltzik presents a colorful cast in conventional terms.
Lively storytelling and accessible writing makes Hiltzik’s work suitable for all types of readers interested in railroad history..
Does Hiltzik overstate the importance of these titans? The railroads were vital, but do the powermonger capitalists really deserve the lion’s share of the credit or blame compared to the role played by hundreds of thousands of workmen, engineers, investors, taxpayers, and customers? It’s easy and enjoyable to be drawn to these classic financial celebrities — and, yes, it makes for a good read — but do they merit the attention? Hiltzik himself wrestles with this question and takes a decided point of view.
