The award-winning author of "Empire Express" retraces the route of the first transcontinental railroad.

In the summer of 2000, award-winning author David Bain and his family headed west in search of America¿s past. Between the Missouri River and the Golden Gate Bridge, they retraced the entire route of the first transcontinental railroad and stretches of the Oregon and California trails. Following vanished iron rails and wagon wheel ruts, bumping down back roads and main streets, they discovered the deep, restless, uniquely American spirit of adventure that connects our past to our present. Along the way, Bain encounters a fascinating cast of characters, both historic and contemporary -- from Mark Twain and Willa Cather to Henry Fonda and Marlon Brando, including his own grandparents. ¿Bain has fashioned a quintessentially American journey.¿ Illustrations.

A fascinating journey through the history of railways From the early steam trains to the high-speed bullet trains of today, The Iron Road tells the hidden stories of railway history- the inspired engineering, blood, sweat and tears that went into the construction of the railways. Uncover the compelling tales of bold vision, invention and error, and social change behind the history of trains and railways, with famous railways such as the Transsiberian fully explored. Learn how the great railway pioneers such as George Stephenson produced the ideas and feats of engineering that created the railways and changed the world. Each exciting moment of railway history is captured, contextualised and enhanced by superb illustrations. Trains and railways of the past like the romantic Orient Express are brought to life through amazing eyewitness accounts, allowing you to see the railways through the eyes of people who were there at the time. Written by Christian Wolmar, an award-winning writer and broadcaster, The Iron Road is an exciting trip through the history of trains for any railway enthusiast.

A startling account of an evil regime and one young man's efforts to defy it. Twenty-eight-year-old James Mawdsley spent much of the past four years in grim Burmese prisons. The Iron Road is his story, and the story of the regime that jailed him, the way it jails, tortures, and kills hundreds of Burmese each day. Mawdsley was working in New Zealand when he learned about the struggle of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese Nobel laureate who is under house arrest. Outraged, he went to Burma, staged a one-man protest, and was jailed. There his own amazing story begins. He is tortured, interrogated, released, jailed again. He turns his incarceration into a contest of wits -- going on a hunger strike, toasting the year 2000 with a cigar and "prison champagne," and requesting "1 packet of freedom, 1 bunch human rights, and 2 bottles of democracy." At the same time, he asks himself: What leads those of us in peaceful democracies to ignore others' suffering, just because it is happening "over there," to "them"? James Mawdsley is a hero in a generation said to lack heroism. The Iron Road -- named for a torture in which skin is scraped from bone with a piece of iron -- is an urgent call for an end to human rights abuses in Burma and is a keen analysis of the totalitarian mind-set. And it is the story, at once moving and terrifying, of how one person can further the cause of justice through sheer will and determination.

A groundbreaking, breathtaking history of the Chinese workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad, helping to forge modern America only to disappear into the shadows of history until now.