Rachel Reviews: Crossing the Continent: The Stories of Transportation's Trailblazers by Norman Tyler

I found Norm Tyler's Crossing the Continent incredibly interesting. What we have here is a book which is meticulously researched and packed full of information and pictures which have been sieved and distilled by Tyler to create a documentation of the stories of pioneers, entrepreneurs, visionaries and mercenary businessmen, who all had a hand in making travel across America possible.

Tyler starts with the establishment of the first routes and gradually progresses from tracks, byways and passes to rail, road and beyond, keenly illustrating what a vast undertaking creating the means to cross America was. I think it is easy in our day and age to overlook how much was involved in making these advances happen; on a financial level, yes, but also on a physical level as the modern world relies so heavily on machinery to get things done quickly and efficiently but if that plant hasn't been invented yet, then it's all down to good old-fashioned manpower.

It was enlightening. I didn't know most of the names mentioned by Tyler but that didn't matter because he was able to bring them alive for me, with the biographical detail he has gleaned and contemporary accounts from newspapers alongside first person dealings. And you have a proper diverse bunch of men here and, I was pleased to note, a few women.

I especially liked the chapter devoted to Fisher who sounds like more of a showman than an entrepreneur at times and was perhaps the first businessman to truly understand how, if you want to get the consumer on board, a good place to start is to excite them. It transpires that it was, in Fisher's case, also the way that he got himself a wife!

I did sometimes feel like some of the chapters were heavy on the detail and that there was a tendency to repeat when it was not always necessary for understanding but this is a minor criticism for a book which is competently and comprehensively written.

If you've ever been curious about the figures and the processes involved in how the European settlers made their way west and how America was connected from coast to coast, then I can recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Rachel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This book was released this week on Reedsy Discovery where this review originally featured: