The Shaping of America v. 3; Transcontinental America, 1850-1915 A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History D.W. Meinig

In this third volume of his acclaimed series, D. W. Meinig offers a riveting account of the expanding country's development from mid-nineteenth century to the onset of World War I. Beginning with the struggle over where to build the Pacific railway, the book details the settlement of the American West, the nation's increasing consolidation, and America's imperialist efforts in the Caribbean and Pacific. Forty superb new maps accompany this account.

D.W. Meinig is Maxwell Research Professor of Geography at Syracuse University and the author of Atlantic America, vol. 1 (ISBN 0 300 03882 8 pb. #20.00) and Continental America, vol. 2 (ISBN 0 300 06290 7 pb. #16.00) of The Shaping of America series.

"The author of Atlantic America and Continental America gives us another extraordinary book, this one about the impact of the acquisition of a western empire upon the U.S. and how railways 'a space-conquering instrument of revolutionary possibilities' helped to reknit the nation, fractured by Civil War, back together again...In characteristically powerful prose, Meinig offers a major retelling of the nation's emergence to world power." Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "The doyen of North American historical geography, Meinig offers a distinctive interpretation that depends much on his literary skill, spatial imagination, and flair for profound simplification...[His] arguments are sustained by [numerous] maps and...illustrations, which act as didactic devices for Meinig's insightful analysis." Choice