William G. Thomas

While I wouldn't quite say that this book revolutionized my thinking about the development of Ante Bellum America, this book greatly strengthens the argument that the coming of the railroad was as revolutionary for the Old South as it was for the North, and was the accelerant for bringing to fruition a potential new nation, whereas previous threats of secession fell short. This being the case, the prime Federal war aim had to be the waging of a "network" war that would cut apart the sinews binding the Confederacy together, thus aborting the birth of the new nation. Ending with the completion of the Union Pacific at Promontory, Thomas returns to his point that there was nothing more modern in nineteenth-century terms than the railroads, because they symbolized a modernity based on freedom of movement (both people and information), the mastery of technology and the conquest of nature. The irony of the Union Pacific is that it was essentially built by the Credit Mobilier Company, which had essentially been created to build a trans-continental railroad favorable to southern interests. There is much food for thought to be had here.… (mehr)