{"product_id":"the-old-iron-road-9781496230485","title":"The Old Iron Road","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA combination of travelogue, history, and storytelling, this is the story of David Haward Bain's family's travels from their home in Vermont to the West in search of America's past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Bain’s] wholly winning book can be approached (and enjoyed) as history, memoir, and travelogue of the highest order. . . . Ambitious, magisterial, intimate, and engaging. . . . I was often reminded of such charming and idiosyncratic books as William Least Heat-Moon’s \u003ci\u003eBlue Highways\u003c\/i\u003e and Reyner Banham’s \u003ci\u003eScenes in America Deserta\u003c\/i\u003e. Both of these books sent me on quests to see what the authors had seen and described so beguilingly, and I felt the same urge on page after page of \u003ci\u003eThe Old Iron Road\u003c\/i\u003e.”—Jonathan Kirsch, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A very personal and warm account—no dry history here—of a journey of the heart that concludes on a poignant note.”—\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A picaresque race across the country. . . . In \u003ci\u003eThe Old Iron Road\u003c\/i\u003e, the dead seem to rise up to greet [Bain] as he goes, and the living save their best stories for him. . . . It is impossible to cross this country by land without being changed by the experience. \u003ci\u003eThe Old Iron Road\u003c\/i\u003e captures this fact vividly, in as many different forms as Bain can find room for in its pages.”––Verlyn Klinkenborg, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Bain bypasses a facile sentimentality for a more complex portrait of the American West.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e“What a terrific read! \u003ci\u003eThe Old Iron Road\u003c\/i\u003e is an elegant combination of riveting storytelling, modern travelogue, and impeccable history. By taking his family across America retracing the route of the first transcontinental railroad, award-winning prose stylist David Haward Bain rediscovered the glory days of the railroad. Ghosts abound, including John Frémont, Butch Cassidy, and Ulysses S. Grant.”—Douglas Brinkley, author of \u003ci\u003eWheels for the World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Highly recommended. . . . Historic accounts of particular people and places along the way make for lively and interesting reading, along with Bain’s entertaining descriptions of and reflections on modern events and sights. Scout’s Rest Ranch at North Platte, Nebraska, offers him the opportunity to discuss ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody, while Elko, Nevada, brings out Bing Crosby’s connection with the town. The overall effect is a modern exploration of the American West and its development of a sense of place in the tradition of Charles Kuralt and Bill Moyers.”—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The here-today-gone-tomorrow impermanence of life in the old American west pervades David Bain’s history of the penetration of the country’s last frontier. Everything there has changed in the two-hundred years since Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark left St. Louis on 14th May 1804 to explore an overland route to the Pacific. The 15m buffalo that roamed the range are gone. . . . Too many Indian peoples, once proud and free, now eke out lives of wretched humiliation on reservations. But melancholy over these sad departures is balanced by admiration for the deeds of the pioneers. They endured unimaginable hardships in turning a wilderness into one of the most prosperous places on earth.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Well done! \u003ci\u003eThe Old Iron Road\u003c\/i\u003e is a fine and honorable addition to the growing first-class literature of the American land.”—William Least Heat-Moon, author of \u003ci\u003eBlue Highways\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRiver Horse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book is a gem.”––\u003ci\u003eNewsday \u003c\/i\u003e(Long Island, NY)\u003cbr\u003e“One of the season’s best.”—\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of Illustrations \u003cbr\u003e Part I\u003cbr\u003e 1. The Odyssey Begins\u003cbr\u003e 2. Jumping Off\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part II\u003cbr\u003e 3. Rails and the River\u003cbr\u003e 4. The Lincoln Highway\u003cbr\u003e 5. The Road from Red Cloud\u003cbr\u003e 6. Hell on Wheels\u003cbr\u003e 7. The View from the Bluffs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part III\u003cbr\u003e 8. Magic City\u003cbr\u003e 9. Road Tested on the Red Plains\u003cbr\u003e 10. Crossing the Divide\u003cbr\u003e 11. Green River to the Rim\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part IV\u003cbr\u003e 12. Through the Canyons to Paradise\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part V\u003cbr\u003e 13. Following the Humboldt\u003cbr\u003e 14. Silver State\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part VI\u003cbr\u003e 15. Over the Sierra\u003cbr\u003e 16. From Sacramento to the Sea\u003cbr\u003e 17. Golden Gate\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue\u003cbr\u003e References\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409239712087,"sku":"9781496230485","price":19.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781496230485.jpg?v=1730506099","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-old-iron-road-9781496230485","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}