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THE GREAT AMERICAN RAILROAD WAR
By: Dennis Drabelle
How Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris Took On the Notorious Central Pacific Railroad
St. Martin's Press
September 2012
On Sale: August 21, 2012
320 pages
ISBN: 0312667590
EAN: 9780312667597
Kindle: B00779MUTQ
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Biography | Non-Fiction History
How two of Americaโs greatest authors took on the Central Railroad monopoly The notorious Central Pacific Railroad riveted the attention of two great American writers: Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris. In The Great American Railroad War, Dennis Drabelle tells a classic story of corporate greed vs. the power of the pen. The Central Pacific Railroad accepted US Government loans; but, when the loans fell due, the last surviving founder of the railroad avoided repayment. Bierce, at the behest of his boss William Randolph Hearst, swung into action writing over sixty stinging articles that became a signal achievement in American journalism. Later, Norris focused the first volume of his trilogy, The Octopus, on the freight cars of a thinly disguised version of the Central Pacific. The Great American Railroad War is a lively chapter of US history pitting two of Americaโs greatest writers against one of A mericaโs most powerful corporations.
 Media BuzzDiane Rehm Show - NPR - August 23, 2012
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