Podcasts about railroaded the transcontinentals

Every now and then a new technology comes along that changes everything – electricity, computers, potentially AI. In mid-19th-century America, that technology was the steam locomotive. It knitted the US economy together, driving the nation's industrialisation during the Gilded Age. But along the way, it also caused one of the biggest financial crises in American history. FT Alphaville editor Robin Wigglesworth tells his co-host, FT columnist Gillian Tett, the story of the great railway bubble that ended in the Panic of 1873. It's also the story of the spectacular rise and fall of Jay Cooke, the greatest banker of his day, who lost a fortune betting on a railroad that would eventually span the North American continent – just not in time to repay its debts. Robin and Gillian discuss what lessons the financier's fate holds for the investors gambling on today's AI boom.Credits: New York Times Archive, Otto Herschan Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesFurther reading:Jay Cooke: Financier of the Civil War, by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer (1907)Jay Cooke's gamble: the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873, by M John Lubetkin (2006)Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America, by Richard White (2012)Pop! Why Bubbles Are Great For The Economy, by Daniel Gross (2007)A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World, by Robin Wigglesworth (2026 – forthcoming)To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducer: Lulu SmythSenior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music and sound design: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GiuompasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeFT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl BrumleyVideo editor: Josh Divney at Podcast DiscoveryRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best-selling video games of all time, but what is the history behind the game? Dr. Tore C. Olsson joins us to talk about the game itself, how video games are teaching American history, and what historians can learn from engaging with popular culture.Essential Reading:Tore Olsson, Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past (2024).Recommended Reading:Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West (1987).Ari Kelman, A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling over the Memory of Sand Creek (2013).Richard White, Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America (2011).William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (1991).S. Paul O'Hara, Inventing the Pinkertons, or Spires, Sleuths, Mercenaries, and Thugs: Being Story of the Nation's Most Famous (and Infamous) Detective Agency (2016).William Link, Southern Crucible: The Making of an American Region (2015). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No industry is more central to the Gilded Age than the railroads. It transformed commerce. It shaped the contours of cities and maps. It created leisure and luxury in ways not known before. Best-selling author John Sedgwick talks about his latest book, From the River to the Sea, a tale of warring railroad tycoons.Essential Reading:John Sedgwick, From the River to the Sea (2021).Additional Reading:Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 (2000).Michael Hiltzik, Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America (2020).Richard White, Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America (2012). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Richard White, author of Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America and The Republic for Which It Stands - The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896, talks to Daniel Ford about the historians that influenced him early on, his research and writing process, and how he incorporated the American West into The Republic for Which It Stands. To learn more about Richard White, read his Stanford University bio or follow Oxford University Press on Twitter @OxUniPress. Today's Friday Morning Coffee is sponsored by OneRoom, Eric Rickstad, and Sid Sanford Lives!

Dr. Richard White is the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Standford University and author of “Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America.” In this episode we discuss how the grand achievement of building railways in the West was based on corruption, fraud, and poor business acumen.  The end of this period consisted […]

Richard White spoke about Indians and the Railroads at the conference “Ed Shannon’s West,” sponsored jointly by The Huntington and the Autry National Center. White has since published the book “Railroaded: The Transcontinentals ad the Making of Modern America” (2011). He is the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Stanford University.

Richard White spoke about Indians and the Railroads at the conference “Ed Shannon’s West,” sponsored jointly by The Huntington and the Autry National Center. White has since published the book “Railroaded: The Transcontinentals ad the Making of Modern America” (2011). He is the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Stanford University.