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HistoryThis was a very interesting and entertaining book about a herculean civil engineering project that I knew nothing about. In the style that David McCullough wrote "The Path Between the Seas", Ms. Jonnes makes the complex building of the tunnels and Pennsylvania Station easy yet fascinating to read. Besides the detail of the project, we also learn about the times and people who were behind the construction and the forces who...
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Much has been written about the lamentable loss of the original Penn Station in the 1960s. The majestic building's turn-of-the-century birth is less well known. Jill Jonnes tells this fascinating Gilded Age story in "Conquering Gotham." The Pennsylvania Railroad, one of the most powerful corporations of the time, had long been thwarted in its efforts to enter the New York market, being forced to ferry its passengers across...
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You do not need to be a railroad history fan to be captivated by this book, as this book delves into the gilded age of business in America as well as the monumental corruption of Tammany Hall and the aldermen in turn of the century New York. A great book on the Pennsylvania Railroad: it's leaders, planners and civil engineers and rank in file, arguably one of the greatest corporations in American history.
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While reading Conquerimg Gotham by Jill Jones, I felt like I was back in the old neighborhood in New York. I grew up just north of the Tenderlion section, in Hell's Kitchen. Several things stand out in my mind after reading this excellent book: Alexander Cassat as President of the Pennzy, was such an honest and honorable man; New York City has lost a great civic monument; and this book has been an excellent trip into the...
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This is a book that can be appreciated on many levels. First and foremost, it is the story of how the once mighty Pennsylvania Railroad brought East-West trains into Manhattan. Though it had become the greatest sea port in the nation, the country's financial and manufacturing hub, Manhattan had no terminal for East-West trains. The New York Central had its trains coming in from the north, but if you wanted to ride the train...
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