722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York / Edition 1

by Clifton Hood

Overview

When it first opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City subway ran twenty-two miles from City Hall to 145th Street and Lenox Avenue--the longest stretch ever built at one time. From that initial route through the completion of the IND or Independent Subway line in the 1940s, the subway grew to cover 722 miles--long enough to reach from New York to Chicago.

In this definitive history, Clifton Hood traces the complex and fascinating story of the New York City subway system, one of the urban engineering marvels of the twentieth century. For the subway's centennial the author supplies a new foreward explaining that now, after a century, "we can see more clearly than ever that this rapid transit system is among the twentieth century's greatest urban achievements."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801880544
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	08/23/2004
Edition description:	Centennial Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	522,341
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.12(h) x 0.87(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Clifton Hood is associate 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.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Part I: The Merchants and the Subway
Prologue: Abram S. Hewitt
1. The Great City
2. Making Government Safe for Business
3. William Barclay Parsons and the Construction of the IRT
4. The Subway and the City
5. Good-bye to the Patricians
Part II: The Politicians and the Subway
6. The Dual Contracts
7. Across the East River
8. John F. Hylan and the IND
9. The People's Subway, the Nickel Fare, and Unification
10. The Revolt against Politics
Epilogue: The Kitchen Debate
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

"One of the best urban-transportation histories to come down the tracks in a long time."

From the Publisher