Publication date:
16 September 2011Length of book:
176 pagesPublisher
Roberts RinehartISBN-13: 9781570984426
A thoroughly revised and expanded successor to Alfred Runte’s Trains of Discovery: Western Railroads and the National Parks, the new edition now includes protected landscapes and historical sites east of the Mississippi made possible or influenced by railroads: the Hudson River Valley; Delaware Water Gap; Harpers Ferry; Indiana Dunes; Gettysburg; Steamtown; and Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, and Acadia National Parks. Illustrated with paintings, posters, photographs, and artifacts from major libraries and public archives, as well as America’s railroads and the author’s private collection, this book is a sight to behold as well as a wonderful, nostalgic armchair read.
'Railroads protected our national sense of place.' So writes internationally noted environmental historian Alfred Runte in Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation. This thought-provoking book explores the many reasons why railroads-passenger railroads in particular-were once an important part of the national identity and should regain that distinction.