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It provides a very unsatisfying read.This is my fourth Ambrose book and it is not in the same league as the others, woefully not even close. There are numerous errors where characters and place names, mountain ranges, and rivers are mis-identified. This book reads like a rush job - it seems to have been thrown together in a hurry with sloppy fact-checking and editing. As a here-to-fore fan of this author's work, I am greatly disappointed in this effort. Several passages are repeated two or three times in different places as though the author overused cut-and-paste to flesh out his story. The time line is extremely difficult to follow and is in some places contradictory. If you are looking for a cohesive, clear, and consistent history of the transcontinental railroad, look elsewhere. If you are looking for the best of Ambrose, try anything else.
The book was so well researched and documented that it made me feel as though I was there.It is in such detail and still not boring,to the point that I could not put it down until I had read it all, and digested every dedail.I would recomend it as part of "American History" taught in high school.I have bought more than one copy to give to friends and family.Thank you for the chance to express my opinion of the book.
The main impression left, and one that Ambrose no doubt wanted to achieve, was awe in the accomplishment itself, akin to the moon landing and other monumental engineering, logistic and financial breakthroughs. The audio book is an abridgment, and it seems to have reduced, but not eliminated, the repetition mentioned in various reviews of the full book. Ambrose was not well known in this historical area, and an expectation of a certain level of cheerleading, based on familiarity with some of his other books. He doesn't whitewash our mistreatment of the Indians or the Chinese laborers, so the history seemed fairly balanced, although experts may disagree. Ambrose thought so. The result was an adequate survey of this hugely important project, from concept and its critical early steps through the golden spike and an assessment of the railroad's importance.
Simply awesome. I did not approach the book as the definitive treatment of the railroad, given that Mr. How did these people do it, blasting through mountains and spanning gorges and everything else in adverse conditions. In that retrospective, Ambrose addressed charges of corruption and other negatives, coming down on the relatively positive side while conceding at least some obvious negatives. The early interest of candidate Abraham Lincoln was a pleasant surprise for me to learn about, and Ambrose had sufficient telling anecdotes and detail to maintain interest throughout the project. Was the so-American competition between corporations, with government incentives, a good idea, despite the flaws.
I did, too, before listening to the book, and still do.
i can see why our local bookstore is going-out-of-business. got this book super fast and at a great price.
I attempted to buy a book from CollegeReSeller and I waited for a month, I have still not been told why my order was canceled, but amazon alerted me by e-mail as I was on the phone making a complaint with customer service. CollegeReSeller has yet to contact me. I recomend never buying anything from this seller because you are not likely to get your order.
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