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"The National Road is a collection of essays about American places, each dealing with contentious matters: religion, politics, sex, race, poverty, loss and the stubborn persistence of national pride, despite abundant reasons for cynicism. An important question lies at the heart of this collection: what does it mean to "belong" in America in the midst of an era when rootedness to a particular piece of ground means less than at any time during our history? These essays cover a wide range of subjects: the changing geography of pornography, the proliferation of "dollar stores," the unique pain of losing a house, the joy and futility of cross-country drives, the ways that certain town governments can turn vicious, the quest to stand upon the topographical roof of every state, a journey into the wilderness to find the body of a notorious killer, a unique examination of the most "American" major religion in the gloom past midnight, a personal eulogy for the metropolitan daily newspaper. From their particular angles, they all examine changing definitions of this shared soil. In a time of collective unease, the American land - this magnificent 3.7 million square miles -- is the lowest denominator of what we have in common"--

Frontmatter -- contents -- Introduction -- 1. A Suburb of Hell -- 2. Deacon Sharpe -- 3. King Sugar -- 4. The Door of No Return -- 5. The Plot -- 6. Swear to Me -- 7. The Fires -- 8. One Common Ruin -- 9. Launched into Eternity -- 10. Panic -- 11. Another Island -- 12. Freedom -- 13. Aftermath -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index

"A revelatory, entertaining account of the world's most indispensable mode of transportation Tom Zoellner loves trains with a ferocious passion. In his new book he chronicles the innovation and sociological impact of the railway technology that changed the world, and could very well change it again. From the frigid trans-Siberian railroad to the antiquated Indian Railways to the futuristic MagLev trains, Zoellner offers a stirring story of man's relationship with trains. Zoellner examines both the mechanics of the rails and their engines and how they helped societies evolve. Not only do trains transport people and goods in an efficient manner, but they also reduce pollution and dependency upon oil. Zoellner also considers America's culture of ambivalence to mass transit, using the perpetually stalled line between Los Angeles and San Francisco as a case study in bureaucracy and public indifference. Train presents both an entertaining history of railway travel around the world while offering a serious and impassioned case for the future of train travel"--

The bullet train hurtles toward the industrial city of Taiyuan in northern China, and seemingly within seconds, the modern, smog-soaked Beijing skyline gives way to open fields. David Su is munching on pistachios in the bar car, careful that not a crumb hits his blue foulard scarf, as he heads some 320 miles to reach his early-morning appointment for a private equity firm. Over his shoulder, the Chinese countryside is a disembodied blur: farms and factories receding at the mind-aching speed of 186 miles per hour. High-speed rail may be a contemporary obsession, but it was invented decades ago by a Japanese engineer named Hideo Shima, who demonstrated in 1957 that a lightweight carriage could be made to travel at game-changing speeds by feeding power through a motor straight to each wheel. The irony of Beijing embrace of high-speed trains is clear to those who know the country's history. Adapted from the source document.