In some ways, an excellent reexamination of the burst of railroad construction that followed the Civil War. The author' thesis is that contrary to the common view of romance or heroic "man against nature", the actual experience was one of failure and unintended consequences, mostly bad. The relationship between government and business was remarkably similar to some of what we're seeing today. But, in the end, I found the material repetitive, and the book is simply too long for the average reader. I didn't finish it.