Georgetown Peabody Library

The men who united the states, America's explorers, inventors, eccentrics, and mavericks, and the creation of one nation, indivisible, written and read by Simon Winchester

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The men who united the states

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854900279

written and read by Simon Winchester

America's explorers, inventors, eccentrics, and mavericks, and the creation of one nation, indivisible

For more than two centuries, E pluribus unum -- Out of many, one -- has been featured on America's official government seals and stamped on its currency. But how did America become "one nation, indivisible"? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? In this monumental history, Simon Winchester addresses these questions, bringing together the breathtaking achievements that helped forge and unify America and the pioneers who have toiled fearlessly to discover, connect, and bond the citizens and geography of the U.S.A. from its beginnings. Winchester follows in the footsteps of America's most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators, including Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery Expedition to the Pacific Coast, 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; Truckee to Laramie; Seattle to Anchorage, introducing these fascinating men and others -- some familiar, some forgotten, some hardly known -- 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

When America's story was dominated by wood, 1785-1805. A view across the ridge ; Drawing a line in the sand ; Peering through the trees ; The frontier and the thesis ; The wood was become grass ; Encounters with the Sioux ; First lady of the plains ; High plains rafters ; Passing the gateway ; Shoreline passage -- When America's story went beneath the Earth, 1809-1901. The lasting benefit of harmony ; The science that changed America ; Drawing the colors of rocks ; The wellspring of knowledge ; The tapestry of underneath ; Setting the lures ; Off to see the elephant ; The west, revealed ; The singular first adventure of Kapurats ; The men who gave us Yellowstone ; Diamonds, sex, and race -- When the American story traveled by water, 1803-1900. Journeys to the fall line ; The streams beyond the hills ; The pivot and the feather ; The first big dig ; The wedded waters of New York ; The linkman cometh ; That ol' man river -- When the American story was fanned by fire, 1811-1956. May the roads rise up ; Rain, steam, and speed ; The annihilation of the in-between ; The immortal legacy of Crazy Judah ; Colonel Eisenhower's epiphanic expedition ; The colossus of roads ; And then we looked up ; The twelve-week crossing -- When the American story was told through metal, 1835-tomorrow. To go, but not to move ; The man who tamed the lightning ; The signal power of human speech ; With power for one and all ; Lighting the corn, powering the prairie ; The talk of the nation ; Making money from air ; Television: the irresistible force ; The all of some knowledge

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