Conquering Gotham

Praise

Praise for Conquering Gotham
 
“In the tradition of David McCullough’s narratives of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal . . . Intelligent history about building an indispensable part of our infrastructure.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“Superb . . . [A] first-rate narrative.”
—The Wall Street Journal
 
“A readable and human account of how a few visionaries from the Pennsylvania Railroad connected the rest of the country to the nation’s greatest port, and how their Philadelphia-centric perspective doomed the world’s greatest train station.”
—The New York Times
 
“Impeccably researched and ravishingly detailed . . . delightful popular history.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Lush and lovely prose.”
—The Baltimore Sun
 
“Conquering Gotham is a well-written and well-researched account of an astoundingly ambitious undertaking. Ms. Jonnes skillfully weaves together the multifarious aspects of the project, from the technical complexities and political wrangling to the personalities of Cassatt and McKim.”
—New York Observer
 
“What’s clear from her riveting story is that it was every bit as hard to build great projects then as now—perhaps even harder.”
—New York Post
 
“New York City’s Pennsylvania Station’s sweeping story, involving engineering challenges, an inflexibly honest corporation leader, flexibly corrupt politicians, and street-level sociology, comes together marvelously in Jonnes’ admiring history of the undertaking.”
—Booklist