<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20055306-the-iron-way" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America" src="https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/111x148-bcc042a9c91a29c1d680899eff700a03.png" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20055306-the-iron-way">The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/477622.William_G_Thomas">William G. Thomas</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2184579070">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Railroads in the 19th century had a profound effect on history. I was intrigued by the book initially because it focused well on the Civil War, but Thomas does an outstanding job of bringing antebellum America into focus to set the stage. His thesis that the South was already a modern nation may be debated. However, the usual view of the South as a backward agricultural society when compared to the North is shown not to be entirely true. The military commanders in the Union after McClellan, primarily Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, understood how the "second nature" of the railroad complemented the rivers as routes to facilitate the defeat of Confederate forces. The history of this era is fraught with much in the way of myth; I liked that Thomas cut through this, including the stories regarding the true reconstruction of the southern railroads by the victorious Union and the profound effect the railroads had on emancipated slaves. The links to digital resources are excellent. From my viewpoint, they illustrate how e-books can lead an interested reader quickly to good primary sources if that is desired. I read this book on my Android phone at lunch and times when I was stuck in a line somewhere -- a delight! All in all, a good book and one that I recommend to those interested in a deeper explanation of America in the 19th century.
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