The Engineering That Built the World

Two rival rail companies, led by Charles Crocker of the Central Pacific and Thomas Durant of the Union Pacific, will stop at nothing to best each other while competing to create the most ambitious engineering project the world has ever seen–an unprecedented railroad that crosses through the wild American continent and unites a divided nation.

A little-known 19th Century French artist embarks on an impossible 20-year odyssey to build the tallest statue in the world, and erect it on U.S. soil. His 225-ton colossus known as “The Statue of Liberty” will not only become the ultimate emblem of American identity, but will go on to change the way tall structures are built.

Two master roadbuilders spend decades struggling to create a highway system that connects every city and town in America. It will be the greatest public works project in history–more expensive than two thousand Hoover Dams, three times longer than the Great Wall of China, and with enough pavement for three round trips to the moon.

Two powerful nations–France and America–compete to build a path just 50 miles long that will connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Completing it will cost 30 thousand lives, $600 million dollars, and require overcoming every obstacle imaginable–from mudslides to malaria to bankruptcy.

After the London Underground becomes the first subway system in the world, visionary engineers in New York and Boston vie to build the first one in America. But being first will mean overcoming unprecedented engineering challenges, deadly accidents, fierce political infighting, and the public’s fear of the underground. When the dust settles, the American city will never be the same.