Image: Penguin Random House · source
Penguin · Mid-range
Tom Zoellner's paperback is a narrative history of railways that travels from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief, in 384 pages.
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The publisher's subtitle already names two very different routes, the Trans-Siberian and the Southwest Chief, and the description adds the antiquated Indian Railways and Japanese-style bullet trains. That spread matters to a railfan who watches or rides trains in more than one country, because it places familiar railways next to far-off ones. The description also says the book explores the sleek elegance of railroads and their hypnotizing rhythms, and how locomotives became living symbols of sex, death, power and romance. It is a narrative of the sociological and economic impact of the technology, not a technical manual. Press comments on the same page describe it as part travelogue, part personal memoir and part history, with seven trains ridden by the author, according to a quoted LA Weekly passage. Booklist is quoted as calling it an absorbing and lively reflection, and the Los Angeles Times as calling it a train lover's celebration of rail travel.
This is a book for the reading chair, the berth or the waiting room. The publisher calls it an epic narrative of the most important transportation technology of the modern world, so it is a story to read straight through rather than a reference to consult at the lineside. A traveler heading for one of the routes in the subtitle can read the matching part beforehand. It runs to 384 pages in paperback. The publisher page also quotes the San Francisco Chronicle describing an industry hiding in plain sight. Pulitzer prize-winning author Richard Rhodes is quoted comparing the author to a Walt Whitman of rail travel.
Strengths
Weaknesses
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Pages | 384 |
| Author | Tom Zoellner |
| Format | Paperback |
| ISBN-10 | 0143126342 |
| ISBN-13 | 9780143126348 |
| Subtitle | Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World--from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief |
| Published | Oct 28, 2014 |
| Publisher | Penguin (Penguin Random House) |
Readers who like travel writing mixed with history and who want an international view of rail. It also fits as a gift for a train traveler.
Blood, Iron, and Gold by Christian Wolmar is a more history-centered global account. Transit Maps of the World by Mark Ovenden covers urban rail worldwide, but through maps rather than narrative.
Image: National Geographic (Penguin Random House) · source
National Geographic · Mid-range
A National Geographic hardcover that profiles 100 railway journeys around the world, with notes on when and where to go, which cabins to book and what to see off the train.
Image: Lorenz Books / Simon & Schuster · source
Lorenz Books · Mid-range
A hardcover guide to the golden age of train engines by Colin Garratt, with 700 photographs covering the first designs to modern high-speed trains.
Image: PublicAffairs / Hachette Book Group · source
PublicAffairs · Mid-range
Christian Wolmar's trade paperback traces how railroads spread from Britain and America across the globe, in 432 pages.
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Compare all railway books.
