Wolmar’s The Great Railroad Revolution was a fantastic introduction. I’m still a little shell-shocked from reading it in one day last Tuesday, but I enjoyed the context Wolmar gave for each development. His tone was professional, confident and reliable probably thanks to the other eight hundred books about railroads he’s written. The texture of his writing was smooth and enjoyable, despite a few wrinkles. The other gift of this book was an informative bibliography; notes on the chief scholars, best books, and sometimes dated perspectives was added easily into the text itself. ( )

very thorough, quite dry