Retrato do autor
1 Work 22 Membros 9 Críticas

About the Author

Peter Murray Hain is a retired operations and staff officer of the CIA's Clandestine Service and served in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Washington, D.C. Frank Hain was the author's great-grandfather's brother.

Obras por Peter Murray Hain

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

There is no Common Knowledge data for this author yet. You can help.

Membros

Críticas

Esta crítica foi escrita no âmbito dos Primeiros Críticos do LibraryThing.
This book is a little dense to get through as a "sit down" read because it has an abundance of information about the elevated railway. I would say that this is a good resource if you are a train enthusiast, teacher, or doing any kind of research on the elevated railway. The book does what it is supposed to do as far as informing people about this type of public transportation.
 
Assinalado
MrsHerrick | 8 outras críticas | Oct 31, 2012 |
Esta crítica foi escrita no âmbito dos Primeiros Críticos do LibraryThing.
This very thoroughly-researched book is clearly a labor of love, and would be interesting to anyone interested in the history of New York City and/or public transportation. The "just the facts" writing style made it a less compelling read that it could have been; there's not much contextualization or analysis. But that doesn't seem to be the book's purpose. I learned a good deal about an aspect of 19th century NYC life that I didn't know about before.
 
Assinalado
chelseagirl | 8 outras críticas | Oct 1, 2011 |
Esta crítica foi escrita no âmbito dos Primeiros Críticos do LibraryThing.
I’m neither a New Yorker nor a railroad buff, but this history of the elevated railway in Manhattan held my interest, and appeared well researched and impartial. The impartiality is important, since the author is related to the central figure in the book, Col. Frank K. Hain, who managed the company through most of its existence. The author refrains from making this a paean to his ancestor, detailing his flaws as well as his virtues. The flaws of the Manhattan Railway and Col. Hain were enumerated exhaustively by the New York Times at the time. Its commentary on the Railway are recorded alongside the statements by the Railway, giving a balanced view of the never-popular operation of a major rapid transit system. The stress of navigating between a Board of Directors composed of some of the biggest names in the financial world and, on the other hand, millions of passengers, with all the media of New York looking on is hard to imagine. Indeed, at the end, Hain succumbed to the stress, tragically.

If I had edited this book, I would likely have counseled that it would have been wise to place some of the “drier” material, such as financial statements and engine specifications, in an appendix where they would be available to view without stalling the narrative. As a reader, this is a minor quibble, since I’m able to skip over details that don’t excite me. More importantly, I’d also have urged the inclusion of maps of the system for benighted readers like me who have only a rudimentary understanding of the New York street system and the distances covered by the routes discussed. All in all, though, it’s an interesting tale, and well told.
… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
wdwilson3 | 8 outras críticas | Sep 28, 2011 |
Esta crítica foi escrita no âmbito dos Primeiros Críticos do LibraryThing.
This book is a nice addition to the history of public transportation in New York City. Transit has a complicated history in New York, with not a great deal of coordination between the modes, the boroughs, or indivula entities. However, the presence of strong leaders like Frank Hain made transportation in the city viable at a fairly early age. The earliest rapid tranist lines did not utilize electric propulsion and were elevated rather than underground because of the smoke generated by locomotives. The cmpletion of electrification did not occur until 1903, seven years after Hain's death. At about the same time, the Manhattan Ry became part of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) (the numbered subway lines in New York today). But all the elevated lines in Manhattan were torn down by 1956, and it is only now that a new Second Avenue subway line is being built. This will bring back to rapid tranist lines to the Upper Eastside.
A nice aspect of this book is there is enough history leading into the Manhattan Ry and coming out of it (with the beginning of subways) to set it into the context into the development of the New York. What is missing is a map of the lines.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
vpfluke | 8 outras críticas | Sep 19, 2011 |

Estatísticas

Obras
1
Membros
22
Popularidade
#553,378
Avaliação
3.8
Críticas
9
ISBN
1