The Men Who United the States. America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible

"Simon Winchester never disappoints, and The Men Who United the States is a lively and surprising account of how this sprawling piece of geography became a nation. This is America from the ground up. Inspiring and engaging." -Tom BrokawSimon Winchester, acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, delivers his first book about America: a fascinating popular history that illuminates the men who toiled fearlessly to discover, connect, and bond the citizenry and geography of the U.
S. A. from its beginnings. How did America become "one nation, indivisible"? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America's most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators, such as Lewis and Clark and the leaders of the Great Surveys; the builders of the first transcontinental telegraph and the powerful civil engineer behind the Interstate Highway System.
He treks vast swaths of territory, from Pittsburgh to Portland, Rochester to San Francisco, Seattle to Anchorage, introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today's United States. Throughout, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree. Featuring 32 illustrations throughout the text, The Men Who United the States is a fresh look at the way in which the most powerful nation on earth came together.
Winchester masterfully organizes this sprawling history of the nation's physical creation into five parts: Westward Expansion and Exploration: Trace the journeys of pioneers like Lewis and Clark as they navigated a continent dominated by wood, from the forests of the frontier to the shores of the Pacific. Geological Surveying: Uncover the story of the earth beneath our feet, as geologists like John Wesley Powell and Clarence King mapped the nation's mineral wealth and opened the American West.
Canals and Steamboats: Discover how America traveled by water, from the nation-building engineering marvel of the Erie Canal to the mighty steamboats that turned the Mississippi River into a commercial highway. The Age of Engines: Witness the transformative power of fire, from the steam locomotives that forged the transcontinental railroad to the combustion engines that demanded the Interstate Highway System.
A Network of Wires: Follow the threads of metal that bound the country together, from the first transcontinental telegraph lines to the power grids that define modern America.