Supplanting America's Railroads: The Early Auto Age, 1900-1940

With their speed and geographical reach, America's railroads reigned supreme through much of the nineteenth century, knitting together the sprawling country as no other mode of transportation was able to do. Around 1900, however, an upstart challenger-the automobile-arrived on the scene. At first regarded as little more than a plaything for the wealthy, the new invention rapidly gained popularity, especially alter Henry Ford's innovative mass-production techniques made cars affordable to th...