The men who united the States : America's explorers, inventors, eccentrics, and mavericks, and the creation of one nation, indivisible
Simon Winchester (Author)
"For more than two centuries, E pluribus unum-"Out of many, one"--Has been featured on America's official government seals and stamped on its currency. But what unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? Simon Winchester follows the footsteps of America's most crucial innovators, thinkers and explorers, from Lewis and Clark, to the builders of the first transcontinental railroad and the curmudgeonly civil engineer who oversaw the creation of more than three million miles of highway. Winchester travels across vast swaths of the American landscape, from Pittsburgh to Portland, Seattle to Anchorage and Truckee to Laramie, using the five classical elements Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal to chart the contributions these adventurous leaders made to connect the diverse communities within the United States and ensure the future of the American project begun in 1776."--Publisher description
collective biographies
xxv, 463 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
9780062079602, 0062079603
827260063
Preface: The pure physics of union
Part I. When America's Story was Dominated by Wood, 1785-1805: A view across the ridge ; Drawing a line in the sand ; Peering through the trees ; The frontier and the thesis ; The wood was become grass ; Encounters with the Sioux ; First lady of the plains ; High plains rafters ; Passing the gateway ; Shoreline passage
Part II. When America's Story Went Beneath the Earth, 1809-1901: The lasting benefit of harmony ; The science that changed America ; Drawing the colors of rocks ; The wellspring of knowledge ; The tapestry of underneath ; Setting the lures ; Off to see the elephant ; The west, revealed ; The singular first adventure of Kapurats ; The men who gave us Yellowstone ; Diamonds, sex, and race
Part III. When the American Story Traveled by Water, 1803-1900: Journeys to the fall line ; The streams beyond the hills ; The pivot and the feather ; The first big dig ; The wedded waters of New York ; The linkman cometh ; That ol' man river
Part IV. When the American Story was Fanned by Fire, 1811-1956: May the roads rise up ; Rain, steam, and speed ; The annihilation of the in-between ; The immortal legacy of Crazy Judah ; Colonel Eisenhower's epiphanic expedition ; The colossus of roads ; And then we looked up ; The twelve-week crossing
Part V. When the American Story was Told Through Metal, 1835-tomorrow: To go, but not to move ; The man who tamed the lightning ; The signal power of human speech ; With power for one and all ; Lighting the corn, powering the prairie ; The talk of the nation ; Making money from air ; Television: the irresistible force ; The all of some knowledge
Maps on endpapers