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There are currently 25 member reviews
for The Race Underground
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Deanna W. (Port Jefferson, NY)
The NYC Subway
Rode the NYC subway every weekday for many years. Never thought about what went into the construction. This book is a very readable and entertaining history of that construction. I also think that pictures would have enhanced it. If you enjoyed The Devil in White City you will enjoy this. I will recommend it to my book group as a selection for next year.
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Joan C. (Warwick, RI)
Imagine
It's the early 20th century. We are in New York City and the city lacks public transportation. Can you imagine what it was like to travel from one place to another? There were a few motor cars (very few), carts, horses and their droppings, bicycles, baby carriages, and the only form of public transportation was privately owned trolley cars which could only move at a snail's pace because of the congestion. Oh, I forgot to mention pedestrians from the numerous boroughs in the city. The Washington Bridge was just being built. Under these conditions a few brilliant engineers and architects conceived the idea of tunneling under the city streets to build a railway system. Ditto the same situation in Boston, Massachusetts and you have a race to end all races. People say "nessessity is the mother of all invention" and nowhere is this euphemism more appropriate. These inventors were relentless in their pursuit to provide their city with clean and safe public transportation for the burgeoning population, all the time battling the infamous Tweed politicians and bureaucratic city government. Boston had similar problems, just different people in a different place. The ideas that these men put into action and their foresight into bringing economic prosperity to their cities is unbelievable. What a history lesson on American ingenuity. This book is a must read!
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Patricia H. (Norman, OK)
Blood, Swear and Fears Underground
"The Race Underground" is a critical and detailed examination of two cities engaged in an intense rivalry in the late 19th century. New York and Boston, at the time this adventure started, were both dirty and crowed cities. Horse draw streetcars had been the basic means of transportation for over 50 years leaving little to the image the suffocating stench. Alfred Beach, publisher of Scientific American, had a dream of using an underground system But many challenges lie in his way from political to technological to the inbred fear of being underground. His dream comes to fruition in the tale of two brothers, one successful the other not so much, two cities and two subways. This is a detailed account of how New York and Boston tunneled their way into a transformation from the pre-industrial to a world of new possibilities.
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Laurie F. (Brookline, MA)
Good Story for Bostonians and New Yorkers
The Race Underground is a good historical account of the characters involved in the early days of mass transit in the cities of Boston and New York. I wonder if the book would appeal to those not familiar with these great American cities.
I must confess I am from the Brookline/Boston area where much of the events took place so I found the background quite interesting yet the writing style was not as fine-tuned as it could have been missing the flow of a well-seasoned author.
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