Blood, Iron, and Gold
How the Railways Transformed the World
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Narrated by:
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Michael Tudor Barnes
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By:
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Christian Wolmar
About this listen
Blood, Iron, and Gold reveals the huge impact of the railways as they spread rapidly across the world, linking cities that had hitherto been isolated, stimulating both economic growth and social change on an unprecedented scale. From Panama to the Punjab, Christian Wolmar describes the vision and determination of the pioneers who developed railways that would one day span continents, as well as the labour of the navvies who built this global network.
Wolmar shows how cultures were enriched – and destroyed – by the unrelenting construction and how they had a vital role in civil conflict, as well as in two world wars. Indeed, the global expansion of the railways was key to the spread of modernity and the making of the modern world.
©2009 Christian Wolmar (P)2010 SoundingsListeners also enjoyed...
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From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century.
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Excellent history!
- By L. Maranto on 10-14-17
By: Bhu Srinivasan
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The Tycoons
- How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy
- By: Charles R. Morris
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The modern American economy was the creation of four men: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan. They were the giants of the Gilded Age, a moment of riotous growth that established America as the richest, most inventive, and most productive country on the planet. Acclaimed author Charles R. Morris vividly brings these men and their times to life. The Tycoons tells the incredible story of how these four determined men wrenched the economy into the modern age, inventing a nation of full economic participation that could not have been imagined earlier.
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Good book wrong title
- By Hectoris on 10-06-16
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Breaking Rockefeller
- The Incredible Story of the Ambitious Rivals Who Toppled an Oil Empire
- By: Peter B. Doran
- Narrated by: Peter B. Doran
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Marcus Samuel, Jr., is an unorthodox Jewish merchant trader. Henri Deterding is a take-no-prisoners oilman. In 1889 John D. Rockefeller is at the peak of his power. Having annihilated all competition and possessing near-total domination of the market, even the US government is wary of challenging the great "anaconda" of Standard Oil. The Standard never loses - that is, until Samuel and Deterding team up to form Royal Dutch Shell.
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Tale of business, cultures, dances as it teaches
- By Philo on 05-25-16
By: Peter B. Doran
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Crabgrass Frontier
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- By: Kenneth T. Jackson
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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This first full-scale history of the development of the American suburb examines how "the good life" in America came to be equated with the a home of one's own surrounded by a grassy yard and located far from the urban workplace. Integrating social history with economic and architectural analysis, and taking into account such factors as the availability of cheap land, inexpensive building methods, and rapid transportation, Kenneth Jackson chronicles the phenomenal growth of the American suburb from the middle of the 19th century to the present day.
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There is so much to think about here.
- By Richard McKown on 06-25-23
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Triumph of the City
- How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
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America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the three percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly. Or are they? As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live.
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Urbanophile Brain Candy
- By Clay Downing on 12-18-15
By: Edward Glaeser
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The Big Roads
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- 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
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From Silk to Silicon
- The Story of Globalization Through Ten Extraordinary Lives
- By: Jeffrey E. Garten
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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From Silk to Silicon tells the story of who these men and women were, what they did, how they did it, and how their achievements continue to shape our world today.
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Fantastic Journey
- By Michael on 06-06-16
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Coal
- A Human History
- By: Barbara Freese
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The fascinating, often surprising story of how a simple black rock altered the course of history. Yet the mundane mineral that built our global economy, and even today powers our electrical plants, has also caused death, disease, and environmental destruction. In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese takes us on a rich historical journey that begins three hundred million years ago and spans the globe.
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Uses Coal to push her Political Agenda
- By Kismet on 08-22-06
By: Barbara Freese
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A Splendid Exchange
- How Trade Shaped the World
- By: William J. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein tells the extraordinary story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. He transports listeners from ancient sailing ships that brought the silk trade from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the 16th.
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Very interesting and Germane to Today's World
- By Mark on 07-18-08
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Capitalism in America
- A History
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Performance
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From the legendary former Fed Chairman and the acclaimed Economist writer and historian, the full, epic story of America's evolution from a small patchwork of threadbare colonies to the most powerful engine of wealth and innovation the world has ever seen.
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Explains a lot
- By Scott on 02-18-19
By: Alan Greenspan, and others
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What listeners say about Blood, Iron, and Gold
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- David C Robinson
- 05-31-15
Terrific Listen
A gripping and educational history of the growth of railroads worldwide and their future potential.
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- matthew
- 09-04-21
Great Overview
One listener was very critical of this book, but I liked it enough to also buy and read the ebook as well and on Scribd I have read or listened to the authors books about train in the US, India and Russia. The best take away from all this is wherever trains are placed externalities develop. Business flourishes, real estate prices go up, food can move from one place to another as a result or refrigeration cars and tourism was spawned. The railroad was the catalyst for speeding up travel and the inspiration for the personal motor car, which is parked most of the time, often sits in gridlock and costs the driver significant amounts of money. Another book by this author is The Illustrated History of Railways: Te Iron Road has excellent photos and is highly reccomended. I am not an engineer, but learned The Swiss developed their bridge building and tunneling skills due to the railways. Maybe the other listener was looking for something more technical or specific? That would have baffled me. Instead I developed a keen curiosity to read more from an author that speaks in a language the average guy can learn from. This book also led me to the Navvies and Ghosts of Golden Mountain, which talk about the hard working Chinese and Irish that built the first Transcontinental Railway in the US. The Chinese provided explosives knowledge that enabled the push East of the Transcontinental and they deserve recognition for their diligent effort and accomplishment.
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Overall
- Andy
- 04-10-10
a mile wide, an inch deep
The author opened the book explaining the limitations of what the book covered. He delivered 100% on the promised limitations. Wolmar provides a good survey of the development of railroads around the world, but too little detail on the specifics.
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4 people found this helpful