The World the Railways Made

The modern world began with the arrival of the railway. The shock was both sudden and universal: between 1825, when the first passenger service linked Stockton and Darlington, and the outbreak of World War I, railways redefined, transformed, and expanded the limits of the civilized world. With railways came the development of modern capitalism, of modern nations, and the opening-up of new regions. The "Iron Road" transformed all aspects of society. For some the railway represented the horrors of industrial development; for others the way toward a brighter future; for all it meant deep and lasting change. From the financiers who provided unprecedented amounts of capital, to the immigrant laborers who built them, Nicholas Faith explores the mechanical revolution that turned the world upside down.