Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America

“Engrossing… [Hiltzik is] an able narrator, with an eye for telling detail.”—New York Times Book Review

From Pulitzer Prize–winner Michael Hiltzik, the epic tale of the clash for supremacy between America’s railroad titans.

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, America’s railways soon exploded into a titanic industry helmed by a pageant of speculators, crooks, a...