David Haward Bain's Books

The Old Iron Road

An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

By: David Haward Bain

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The Old Iron Road

An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

By: David Haward Bain

In the summer of 2000 David Haward Bain and his family left their home in Vermont and headed west in search of America’s past. Spiritually, their journey began on a Kansas trail where the author’s grandmother was born in a covered wagon in 1889. Between the Missouri River and the Golden Gate, they retraced the entire route of the first transcontinental railroad and large stretches of the Oregon and California trails, and the equally colorful old Lincoln Highway. Following vanished iron rails and wagon wheel ruts, bumping down backroads and main streets, they discovered the deep, restless, uniquely American spirit of adventure that connects our past to our present. A superb writer and an exacting researcher, Bain conjures up a marvelous sense of coming unstuck in time as he lingers in the ghost towns and battlegrounds, prairies and river ports, trainyards, museums, deserts, and diners that line his cruise west to California. Bain encounters a fascinating cast of characters, both historic and contemporary, as well as memories of his grandparents and the journeys that shaped his own heritage. Writing in the tradition of William Least Heat-Moon and Ian Frazier, and with an engaging warmth and a deep grasp of history all his own, Bain has fashioned a quintessentially American journey.

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Page Count

469

Publisher

U of Nebraska Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1496235177

ISBN 13

9781496235176

Bitter Waters

America's Forgotten Naval Mission to the Dead Sea

By: David Haward Bain

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Bitter Waters

America's Forgotten Naval Mission to the Dead Sea

By: David Haward Bain

“An intriguing, thorough study of a little-known scientific expedition to the Dead Sea by a mid-19th-century U.S. Navy lieutenant” (Kirkus Reviews). With customary depth and insight, David Haward Bain illumines the United States’s nineteenth-century exploration of the Holy Land. To lead the expedition, the navy tabbed William Francis Lynch, an officer eager to enter the esteemed yet dangerous field of Victorian exploration. Like many of his successful contemporaries, Lynch was well read and possessed an independent nature, but a man who also preferred organization to chaos, and with a character that tended toward the obsessive. The expedition would force a juxtaposition of the ancient world with the modern, as the world’s newest power attempted an exhaustive scientific study of the waters of the cradle of civilization. Beyond its fascinating topic, Bitter Waters is full of broad allusions from the period that demonstrate Bain’s deep understanding of America, and serve to make the work appealing for general scholars and lay readers. Heroically engaging unfamiliar terrain, hostile Bedouins, and ancient mysteries, Lynch and his party epitomize their nation’s spirit of Manifest Destiny in the days before the Civil War. “An engrossing narrative of the expedition that richly positions the mission’s incidents within Lynch’s Western perspective on the Near East. Wonderfully realized, Bain’s account will enthrall seekers of history off the beaten path.” —Booklist (starred review) “David Haward Bain, author of Empire Express, paints a vivid picture of the ambitious, visionary seafarers and their bold adventure . . . Bitter Waters captures this fascinating moment in American history.” —History Book Club (official selection)

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Page Count

331

Publisher

ABRAMS

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590209974

ISBN 13

9781590209974

The Old Iron Road

An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

By: David Haward Bain

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The Old Iron Road

An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West

By: David Haward Bain

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Page Count

469

Publisher

U of Nebraska Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1496235177

ISBN 13

9781496235176

Empire Express

Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

By: David Haward Bain

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Empire Express

Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

By: David Haward Bain

After the Civil War, the building of the transcontinental railroad was the nineteenth century's most transformative event. Beginning in 1842 with a visionary's dream to span the continent with twin bands of iron, Empire Express captures three dramatic decades in which the United States effectively doubled in size, fought three wars, and began to discover a new national identity. From self--made entrepreneurs such as the Union Pacific's Thomas Durant and era--defining figures such as President Lincoln to the thousands of laborers whose backbreaking work made the railroad possible, this extraordinary narrative summons an astonishing array of voices to give new dimension not only to this epic endeavor but also to the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of an unforgettable period in American history.

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Page Count

1432

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101658045

ISBN 13

9781101658048

Bitter Waters

America's Forgotten Naval Mission to the Dead Sea

By: David Haward Bain

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Bitter Waters

America's Forgotten Naval Mission to the Dead Sea

By: David Haward Bain

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Page Count

331

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ABRAMS

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590209974

ISBN 13

9781590209974

Hell on Wheels

Wicked Towns Along the Union Pacific Railroad

By: Dick Kreck,David Halass

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Hell on Wheels

Wicked Towns Along the Union Pacific Railroad

By: Dick Kreck,David Halass

Overnight settlements, better known as "Hell on Wheels," sprang up as the transcontinental railroad crossed Nebraska and Wyoming. They brought opportunity not only for legitimate business but also for gamblers, land speculators, prostitutes, and thugs. Dick Kreck tells their stories along with the heroic individuals who managed, finally, to create permanent towns in the interior West.

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Page Count

319

Publisher

Fulcrum Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1555919529

ISBN 13

9781555919528

They Made America

From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators

By: David Lefer,Gail Buckland,Harold Evans

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They Made America

From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators

By: David Lefer,Gail Buckland,Harold Evans

An illustrated history of American innovators -- some well known, some unknown, and all fascinating -- by the author of the bestselling The American Century.

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Page Count

922

Publisher

Back Bay Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0316070343

ISBN 13

9780316070348

Book's by David Haward Bain

The Old Iron Road

The Old Iron Road

Bitter Waters

Bitter Waters

The Old Iron Road

The Old Iron Road

Empire Express

Empire Express

Bitter Waters

Bitter Waters

Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels

They Made America

They Made America

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