Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America

Business reporter Hiltzik (Big Science) examines the rise and fall of the American railroad industry in this colorful, wide-ranging account. Through judicious use of primary and secondary sources, Hiltzik chronicles the industry’s profound impacts on labor relations, monopoly law, and the stock market in post–Civil War America. The complex history is made accessible through the stories of surveyors, engineers, and laborers, as well as “the business leaders whose individual personalities, ambitions, determination, and morals commanded the others’ fates.” Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Edward Harriman, and J. Pierpoint Morgan come into sharp focus as Hiltzik documents their efforts to transform isolated, short routes to random locations into an integrated transportation network for both passengers and freight. The narrative also features labor organizer Eugene V. Debs, a railway painter and fireman charged with conspiracy for his role in the 1894 Pullman strike, and Grover Cleveland’s attorney general, Richard Olney, who was on a railroad’s payroll even as he headed the Department of Justice. Hiltzik writes with verve, providing meaningful insights into the shocking inequalities of the Gilded Age. Business history buffs will be enthralled by this character-driven account. Sandra Dijkstra, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. (Aug.)