- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (19 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571216080
- ISBN-13: 978-0571216086
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 204,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
From the author of Mauve comes a dramatic and hugely readable account of the day which saw the dawning of the railway age - and the first railway accident. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the greatest engineering feat of its age. George and Robert Stephenson's 'Rocket' was to become the most famous locomotive in history. William Huskisson was one of the greatest statesmen of his generation, and certainly the most accident prone. On 15 September 1830, the three met for the first time. 'Part biography, part social, part railway history, this is a good example of history-by-episode . . . It is an enjoyable, well-researched and instructive account. By no means is it only for railway buffs, but it might turn you into one.' The Spectator
About the Author
Simon Garfield was born in 1960. He is the author of Expensive Habits: The Dark Side of the Industry, The End of Innocence: Britain in the Time of AIDS, which was awarded the Somerset Maugham Prize, The Wrestling, The Nation's Favourite: The True Adventures of Radio 1, Mauve, The Last Journey of William Huskisson, The Error World and the Mass Observation trilogy Our Hidden Lives, Private Battles and We Are At War.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Steamy Adventure,
This review is from: The Last Journey of William Huskisson: How a Day of Triumph Became a Day of Despair at the Turn of a Wheel (Paperback)
This is a truly old-fashioned adventure, very much something from the Victorian age. The building of the Liverpool/Manchester railway was an engineering success story that only a few imagined at the time. One of them -ironically enough - was William Huskisson, influential local MP and 'the most accident-prone MP on the planet'. His slow death on the day is the centrepiece of this book, but the real story is how they built the railway and the consequences for travel throughout the world. Simon Garfield provides a rather chilling final chapter in which he mentions the crashes that came after it - from the local ones in the years immediately afterwards to the ones at Hatfield and Potters Bar, which makes us ask how much we have learnt from our own history. Some of the political passages are a little prolonged in what is essentially a human story, but overall this is a grpping book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Rewarding History,
This review is from: The Last Journey of William Huskisson: How a Day of Triumph Became a Day of Despair at the Turn of a Wheel (Paperback)
As the title suggests, this is ostensibly a book about the famous railway accident in which the MP for Liverpool was killed by Stephenson's Rocket. But it is really about the building of the railway itself - the Liverpool/Manchester route that was the first major railway in the world (well, okay, the first inter-city railway in the world...). It was a titanic effort to construct the 30-mile route, with Huskisson instrumental in bringing it about. Simon Garfield is very good in setting the scene for the need for the railway, and then tracks the whole building of the line. The accident itself, which happened on the opening day, is very shocking when it comes, and described in vivid detail.Recommended to those who are interested in the pre-Victorian era, and those who just like a good ripping yarn.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Politician and the Train,
By
This review is from: The Last Journey of William Huskisson: How a Day of Triumph Became a Day of Despair at the Turn of a Wheel (Hardcover)
As Simon Garfield wisely points out, William Huskisson is 'remembered as that man who got knocked over by that train at the opening of that railway', his notable achievements as MP and Minister largely forgotten. For that reason, if for no other, Garfield's readable and well researched book is very welcome. Somehow, though, it makes rather less impact than might be expected. Though the gathering of information from many contemporary sources is admirable, the opening section (telling many different stories at different times) is more confusing than compelling. Perhaps we learn too much about Huskisson's political career for the good of the main narrative, but too little to be really involved in it. The central story, however, is well told and emerges as just as sad - yet faintly ludicrous -as one would expect.
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