The Race Underground, Doug Most
The Race Underground, Doug Most
List: $25.00 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.50

The Race Underground
Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway

Author: Doug Most

Narrator: John H. Mayer

Unabridged: 15 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/04/2014


Synopsis

In the late nineteenth century, as cities like Boston and New York grew larger, the streets became increasingly clogged with horse-drawn carts.  When the great blizzard of 1888 brought New York City to a halt, a solution had to be found. Two brothers—Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York City—pursued the dream of his city being the first American metropolis to have a subway and the great race was on. The competition between Boston and New York was played out in an era not unlike our own, one of economic upheaval, job losses, bitter political tensions, and the question of America's place in the world.

The Race Underground is peopled with the famous, like Boss Tweed, and Thomas Edison, and the not-so-famous, like the countless "sandhogs" who dug and blasted into the earth's crust, sometimes losing their lives in the process of building the subway's tunnels. Doug Most chronicles the science of the subway, looks at fears people had about travelling underground and tells a story as exciting as any ever ripped from the pages of U.S. history. The Race Underground is a great American saga of two rival American cities, the powerful interests within, and an invention that changed the lives of millions.

About The Author

Doug Most is the deputy managing editor for features at The Boston Globe. He is the author of Always in Our Hearts: The Story of Amy Grossberg, Brian Peterson, the Pregnancy They Hid and the Child They Killed. He has written for Sports Illustrated, Runner's World, and Parents and his stories have appeared in Best American Crime Writing and Best American Sports Writing. He lives in Needham, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Josh

I won this book as a Goodreads "first reads" giveaway and was excited to get into this one as I thought it would be to my likings; an interesting subject, a competitive backstory with political innuendo, a host of turn of the century power broker types all with an angle to work. Unfortunately for me......more

Goodreads review by Kristi

Super fun and informative “read” (I listened to the audiobook) as a Boston resident. So so crazy how complex and multi-charactered the background is to something that is such an accepted and normal part of my everyday life. Perfect audiobook for me—story driven, lots of learning, and a good reader.......more

Goodreads review by Scott

3.5*'s This was really well done and very educational. I really loved how the author incorporated all of the human elements into the story and created a sense of tension by doing so. Being from the Boston area and also being very familiar with NYC it was fun trying to picture the turn of the 19th int......more

Goodreads review by Rick

Doug Most tried to tell what could have been an epic story but turns it into a muddled story which focuses more on the politics of building the first subway then on the great engineering story which it was. He says in one sentence what he misses when he says how the great failure of the London subwa......more