Author Appearance: Walter Borneman

Few time periods in American history are as exciting or capture the imagination as grippingly as the time of Western Expansion. In the 1860s, Americans, just coming out of the trauma of a bloody civil war, were keen to tie the country together—literally and figuratively. After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the notion of a single rail line crossing the continent and connecting the two coasts vanished on the prairie winds. The rest of the country was up for grabs and the race was on. The prize? A better, shorter, less snowy route through the corridors of the American Southwest, linking the growing cities of Los Angeles and Chicago.

From acclaimed historian Walter R. Borneman comes a dazzling account of the battle to build America’s southwestern transcontinental rail lines. Rival Rails is an action-packed epic of how an empire was born—and the remarkable men (both honorable and dishonorable) who made it happen. Borneman brings to life the legendary business geniuses, robber barons, who made millions, battled the elements—and each other—to move America.

About the Author: Walter R. Borneman is the author of several books, including 1812: The War That Forged a Nation, The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America, and Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America, for which he won the Tennessee History Book Award and Colorado Book Award for Biography. Currently, he is the president of the Walter V. and Idun Y. Berry Foundation, which funds post-doctoral fellowships in children’s health at Stanford.

Author's Web Site: http://www.walterborneman.net/