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The Race Underground
- Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the late nineteenth century, as cities like Boston and New York grew larger, the streets became increasingly clogged with horse-drawn carts. When the great blizzard of 1888 brought New York City to a halt, a solution had to be found. Two brothers - Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York City - pursued the dream of his city being the first American metropolis to have a subway and the great race was on. The competition between Boston and New York was played out in an era not unlike our own, one of economic upheaval, job losses, bitter political tensions, and the question of America's place in the world.
The Race Underground is peopled with the famous, like Boss Tweed, and Thomas Edison, and the not-so-famous, like the countless "sandhogs" who dug and blasted into the earth's crust, sometimes losing their lives in the process of building the subway's tunnels. Doug Most chronicles the science of the subway, looks at fears people had about travelling underground and tells a story as exciting as any ever ripped from the pages of U.S. history. The Race Underground is a great American saga of two rival American cities, the powerful interests within, and an invention that changed the lives of millions.
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In the final decades of the 19th century, three brilliant and visionary titans of America's Gilded Age - Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse - battled as each vied to create a vast and powerful electrical empire. In Empires of Light, historian Jill Jonnes portrays this extraordinary trio and their riveting and ruthless world of cutting-edge science, invention, intrigue, money, death, and hard-eyed Wall Street millionaires.
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Get the book vs audio version
- By DuPont on 06-15-17
By: Jill Jonnes
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The Big Roads
- The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
- By: Earl Swift
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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From author Earl Swift comes the surprising history of the U.S. interstate system, a fascinating route through the dreams, discoveries, and protests that shaped these mighty roads.
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Lessons from The Big Roads
- By Joshua Kim on 05-06-12
By: Earl Swift
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Chief Engineer
- Washington Roebling, the Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge
- By: Erica Wagner
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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His father conceived of the Brooklyn Bridge, but after John Roebling's sudden death, Washington Roebling built what has become one of American's most iconic structures - as much a part of New York as the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. Yet, as recognizable as the bridge is, its builder is too often forgotten - and his life is of interest far beyond his chosen field. It is the story of immigrants, of the frontier, of the greatest crisis in American history, and of the making of the modern world.
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Monumental
- By charles mueller on 07-09-19
By: Erica Wagner
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Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
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A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03
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Ruthless Tide
- The Heroes and Villains of the Johnstown Flood, America’s Astonishing Gilded Age Disaster
- By: Al Roker
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping narrative history of the 1889 Johnstown Flood - the deadliest flood in US history - from New York Times best-selling author, NBC host, and legendary weather authority Al Roker. May 1889: After a deluge of rainfall swelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork Dam in central Pennsylvania. Though they telegraphed neighboring towns, warning of the impending danger, residents, used to false alarms, remained in their homes. At 3:10 p.m., the dam gave way....
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Mispronunciation bothers me
- By Tracy on 09-08-18
By: Al Roker
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Colossus
- Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America's greatest achievements. The story of its conception, design, and construction is the story of the United States at a unique moment in history: when facing both a global economic crisis and the implacable elements of nature, we prevailed.
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A Political Biography of the Dam
- By Roy on 02-20-11
By: Michael Hiltzik
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King and Queen of Malibu
- The True Story of the Battle for Paradise
- By: David K. Randall
- Narrated by: Eric Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Over a half century, Malibu went from an untamed ranch in the middle of nowhere to a paradise seeded with movie stars. Behind its transformation is the love story of Frederick and May Rindge. He was a Harvard-trained confidant of presidents; she grew up on a hardscrabble Midwestern farm; yet their unlikely bond would shape history.
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Detailed and interesting
- By SuperLuckyCat on 08-04-24
By: David K. Randall
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Hoover Dam
- An American Adventure
- By: Joseph E. Stevens
- Narrated by: Kevin Charles Minatrea
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1931, in a rugged desert canyon on the Arizona-Nevada border, an army of workmen began one of the most difficult and daring building projects ever undertaken: the construction of Hoover Dam. Through the worst years of the Great Depression as many as five thousand laborers toiled twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to erect the huge structure that would harness the Colorado River and transform the American West.
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Enjoyed this book
- By Nancy Ann on 02-18-20
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Dark Tide
- The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
- By: Stephen Puleo
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Around noon on January 15, 1919, a group of firefighters were playing cards in Boston's North End when they heard a tremendous crash. It was like, "a roaring surf," one of them said later. Like, "a runaway two-horse team smashing through a fence," said another. A third firefighter jumped up from his chair to look out a window - "Oh my God!" he shouted to the other men, "Run!" A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses had just collapsed on Boston's waterfront, disgorging its contents as a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that at its outset traveled at 35 miles an hour.
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INTERESTING STORY - ABOUT 2x TOO LONG
- By The Louligan on 09-07-14
By: Stephen Puleo
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Triangle
- The Fire That Changed America
- By: David Von Drehle
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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On March 25, 1911, as workers were getting ready to leave for the day, a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village. Within minutes it spread to consume the building's upper three stories. Firemen who arrived at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders simply weren't tall enough. People on the street watched in horror as desperate workers jumped to their deaths. It was the worst disaster in New York City history.
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Interesting but Loong
- By JAS on 04-21-18
By: David Von Drehle
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Broadway
- A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles
- By: Fran Leadon
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Broadway takes us on a mile-by-mile journey that traces the gradual evolution of the 17th century's Brede Wegh, a muddy cow path in a backwater Dutch settlement, to the 20th century's Great White Way. We learn why one side of the street was once considered more fashionable than the other; witness construction of the Ansonia Apartments, Trinity Church, and the Flatiron Building and the burning of P. T. Barnum's American Museum; and discover that Columbia University was built on the site of an insane asylum.
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Give My Regards To Broadway!
- By Steven on 08-20-18
By: Fran Leadon
What listeners say about The Race Underground
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- serine
- 03-21-16
A lot of information
This book had a lot of good information but there were many times it failed to hold my interest. It might simply be that my interest in the subway was not as great as I had imagined it to be when I bought this book. I had to force myself to keep reading so that I didn't miss out on the parts of the book I was interested in. The biographies of the various people involved in constructing and funding the subway were interesting. I found it interesting to read about the various ways in which less imaginative people squashed visionaries with ridicule. I also liked learning about why early attempts at subway construction failed (lack of scientific discoveries-- ie., electricity). The book was thoroughly researched and provided plenty of detail about every stage of construction.
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- Lynn
- 05-21-14
Informative Cobbled Telling of an Important Story
This is a wonderful telling of the building of America's first subway. Much history and historical context is provided. The general reader will find much here to admire and enjoy. Chronologically, Doug Most links a number of disparate characters, technological developments, and anecdotes to flesh out his reporting of this technological innovation.
I was a little disappointed that there was so little written about "how" the actual subway was excavated and installed. That is a minor flaw, however, because most was accomplished by hand and animal muscle power. I would have enjoyed knowing more about the experiences of those doing the real labor; and the day-to-day working conditions. There is probably no record available. This minor disappointment is no reason to avoid this book.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Andy
- 02-14-14
interesting journey
Terrific story about how the dots got connected that led to modern subway systems. Full of colorful personalities and technological developments that paved the way to replace the horse (and tons of daily horse poop) that it took to move people about the city.
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3 people found this helpful
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- William Smith
- 01-12-16
Well worth your time and an amazing true story
This story was amazing! I couldn't imagine the historical figures involved in getting the subway to become a reality.
Well worth the time to read or listen.
Regards,
WGS
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- MIchael S. Radeos
- 03-11-20
Amazing story
I was interested in learning about how the subways in Boston and New York were built and got so much more than I bargained for. The people that risked everything and the engineering achievements made for a fast-paced narrative that made it hard to stop listening. It is inspiring to see how the human spirit can rise above seemingly insurmountable obstacles and achieve wonders.
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- Simone
- 05-14-14
Would have preferred a more concise overview.
I don’t quite see how this was a RACE as the title states. It just seemed like a telling of the developments in each city – I never got the feeling that one was trying to outdo the other, or beat them to the finish line.
The abridged version would have been better for me, and I should have known after reading (and giving up on) “The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge” by David McCullough.
The same issues bothered me in both books: too many dry facts! I am interested in the subject in general, but not at this level of detail. The book cast such a wide net over the surrounding particulars that on many occasions I felt it was off topic. Some snippets were interesting, but most just went “in one ear and out the other”.
Also, I am not that interested the biography of every single person involved in the process, and there were some people who played such a small role in the whole progression that they could have been left out all together.
I hope I learned my lesson for the next time I pick up a book in this genre: to pause before buying to ask myself: “how much do I REALLY want to know about this topic?”
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3 people found this helpful