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Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 385.314097471
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Viking Adult
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: April 19, 2007
Publisher: Viking Adult
Studio: Viking Adult
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Editorial Review:
The epic story of the struggle to connect New York City to the rest of the nation
The demolition of Penn Station in 1963 destroyed not just a soaring neoclassical edifice, but also a building that commemorated one of the last centurys great engineering featsthe construction of railroad tunnels into New York City. Now, in this gripping narrative, Jill Jonnes tells this fascinating storya high-stakes drama that pitted the money and will of the nations mightiest railroad against the corruption of Tammany Hall, the unruly forces of nature, and the machinations of labor agitators. In 1901, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Alexander Cassatt, determined that it was technically feasible to build a system of tunnels connecting Manhattan to New Jersey and Long Island. Confronted by payoff-hungry politicians, brutal underground working conditions, and disastrous blowouts and explosions, it would take him nearly a decade to make Penn Station and its tunnels a reality. Set against the bustling backdrop of Gilded Age New York, Conquering Gotham will enthrall fans of David McCulloughs The Great Bridge and Ron Chernows Titan.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Highly Recommended Reading About an Interesting Episode in New York City History
There was a point while I was reading Jill Jonnes', "Conquering Gotham", that I wished I could reach back through time, grab old Penn Station and plunk it back down onto its comfortable spot at 7th Avenue and West 32nd Street. Not the tawdry Penn Station I remember walking through as a child of eight or nine with my mother on the way to visiting my father at his showroom around the corner on West 31st Street, the one with the dusty, decrepit old signs, the misplaced ticket counters blocking one's ... Read More
Rating:  - A pearl of great price
Jill Jonnes has written a very engaging book about the construction of the late great Penn Station and its tunnels. She captures the language and textures of the late 19th and early 20th century when this monumental undertaking took place. Not surprisingly, she focuses on the railroad king, Alexander Cassatt, who had the audacity to challenge Cornelius Vanderbilt's monopoly on the railroad lines entering Gotham. She charts the various attempts to bridge over and tunnel under the Hudson but best ... Read More
Rating: - Fascinating
I loved her book on Edison/Westinghouse and this one is great as well - - very well done - thanks !
Rating: - great read
definitely an enjoyable and readable book. The focus is definitely on the tunnel construction---less focused on Penn Station itself.
Rating: - Great Glided-Age Gotham Tale
Much has been written about the lamentable loss of the original Penn Station in the 1960s. The majestic building's turn-of-the-century birth is less well known. Jill Jonnes tells this fascinating Gilded Age story in "Conquering Gotham."
The Pennsylvania Railroad, one of the most powerful corporations of the time, had long been thwarted in its efforts to enter the New York market, being forced to ferry its passengers across the North (Hudson) River. Andrew Cassett, the PRR's ... Read More
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