The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

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NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand books is not always available. Please contact us if you have a question about this title.

Author: David Haward Bain

Format: Hardback

Number of Pages: 434


In the summer of 2000, David Haward Bain and his family left their home in Vermont and headed west in search of Americaas past. From Omaha to San Francisco, Bain and his family retraced the entire route of the first transcontinental railroad. Following abandoned railroad tracks and the traces of old wagon trails, cruising down back roads and main streets, they discovered the deep, restless, uniquely American spirit of adventure that connects our past to our present. A superb writer and an exacting researcher, Bain conjures up the marvelous sense of coming unstuck in time as he lingers in the ghost towns and battlegrounds, prairies and river ports, train yards, museums, and diners that line the old emigrant routes of the railroad and the Lincoln Highway. As he cruises west to California, Bain encounters a fascinating cast of characters, both historic and contemporaryafrom Willa Cather to Marlon Brando, from pathfinder John FreAmont to naturalist Terry Tempest Williams. Here, too, are memories of Bainas own grandparents and the journeys that shaped his own heritage. Writing in the tradition of William Least Heat-Moon and Ian Frazier, yet with an engaging warmth and a deep grasp of history all his own, Bain has fashioned a quintessentially American journey.
Description
NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand books is not always available. Please contact us if you have a question about this title.

Author: David Haward Bain

Format: Hardback

Number of Pages: 434


In the summer of 2000, David Haward Bain and his family left their home in Vermont and headed west in search of Americaas past. From Omaha to San Francisco, Bain and his family retraced the entire route of the first transcontinental railroad. Following abandoned railroad tracks and the traces of old wagon trails, cruising down back roads and main streets, they discovered the deep, restless, uniquely American spirit of adventure that connects our past to our present. A superb writer and an exacting researcher, Bain conjures up the marvelous sense of coming unstuck in time as he lingers in the ghost towns and battlegrounds, prairies and river ports, train yards, museums, and diners that line the old emigrant routes of the railroad and the Lincoln Highway. As he cruises west to California, Bain encounters a fascinating cast of characters, both historic and contemporaryafrom Willa Cather to Marlon Brando, from pathfinder John FreAmont to naturalist Terry Tempest Williams. Here, too, are memories of Bainas own grandparents and the journeys that shaped his own heritage. Writing in the tradition of William Least Heat-Moon and Ian Frazier, yet with an engaging warmth and a deep grasp of history all his own, Bain has fashioned a quintessentially American journey.
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