Conquering Gotham : Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels

Superb. [A] first-rate narrative” (The Wall Street Journal) about the controversial construction of New York’s beloved original Penn Station and its tunnels\ As bestselling books like Ron Chernow’s Titanand David McCullough’s The Great Bridgeaffirm, readers are fascinated with the grand personalities and schemes that populated New York at the close of the nineteenth century. Conquering Gothamre-creates the riveting struggle waged by the great Pennsylvania Railroad to build Penn Station and the monumental system of tunnels that would connect water-bound Manhattan to the rest of the continent by rail. Historian Jill Jonnes tells a ravishing tale of snarling plutocrats, engineering feats, and backroom politicking packed with the most colorful figures of Gilded Age New York.

Jill Jonnes is a historian and has been a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar.