Great American Railroad Journeys

by Michael Portillo

Great American Railway Journeys will see the famous brand of social history cum travelogue venture in the New World. First Great Britain, then Old Europe were discovered by Michael Portillo across several seasons of fascinating TV, all with the help of train fanatic George Bradshaw, and the wonderful guide books he wrote over a century ago. Michael now undertakes an epic trip from New York and Boston on the American East coast right down to the Deep South of Atlanta and New Orleans, and then on to Chicago, Colorado, New Mexico, and ultimately finishing in San Francisco. Truly a colourful and exciting enterprise with vignettes of revealing social history concerning America's rich tapestry of peoples who have built a life in this vast new world. The new series (8x1-hour) airs in the summer of 2016. This book is the official, lavishly illustrated tie-in covering every single journey Portillo undertakes across North America and capturing all the colour, beauty, excitement and fervour that journeying across this historic continent can muster. A must-have purchase for any armchair fan of unique and award-winning travel programming.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A huge disappointment, was expecting a chronological history of American railroads which at first it appears it will be but this just ends up turning into a mess.

Topics and chronology switch back and forth at random. One minute they conclude the American Civil War and then the next Chapter repeats it all over again.

Oddly it talks very little about the actual railroads and focuses alot on the individuals linked to them. This is fine in small amounts but just get bogged down.

Also all the maps are terrible scans of old documents which are unclear and blurry.

Unfortunately wouldn't recommend this book at all and just avoids 1 star by at least containing some useful information between the chaos!

[Philip William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please do not think that this book has much to do with the US railway journeys made by Michael Portillo that you might have seen on the TV.

It is a history of the railway in the USA with lots of pictures.

The book is interesting but do not be fooled by the cover,

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive history of highlights of Eastern and Southern railroads with very little on the western railroads which I was most interested in but still interesting and informative.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first chapter of this book was interesting. However, after this, the book seemed to go off on tangents down unconnected topics.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

More interesting than I anticipated!

[Debbie Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, a step by step account of the development of the American railway system right up to it’s peak.