For those who missed last night's premire of the "Transcontinental Railroad" on PBS, here's a link to the American Experience website.

"Transcontinental Railroad" on PBS
middlebrookk@kaisere.com

David Haward Bain, author of "Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad", co-produced the film.


SJHussar@aol.com

Good show, good website, as can always be expected of American Experience and PBS. Looks like they've made several new American Experience programs for this year.

> For those who missed last night's premire of
> the "Transcontinental Railroad" on
> PBS, here's a link to the American
> Experience website.


ryarger@rypn.org

I enjoyed the program very much, as always, when railroads are the subject of such a high quality production. Having recently seen this, and "Chicago - City of the Century", I was keenly aware of the "PBS approach" to history (liberals may wish to stop reading here).

Since the Pacific Railroad was first and foremost a tremendous technological feat, I had hoped to see a tiny bit more time devoted to the engineering aspects of the project. It's difficult for me to accept a view of events that reduces everything to either victims or victimizers. Our children are taught that the transcontinental railroad was all about the mistreatment of Chinese, Indians, laborers, buffalo, etc., at the hands of greedy, irresponsible capitalists, when it was so much more than that.

Is history without a social agenda too much to ask? >sigh<

tr2manz@frontiernet.net

> Is history without a social agenda too much
> to ask? >sigh<

Yes, by definition. It's just a question of whose agenda. :-)


eledbetter@rypn.org

Personally, I find PBS (and BBC) reporting to be the least biased on television, certainly less so than the sensationalized pap of the commercial networks. While the engineering feats certainly were grand for the time, they couldn't have been done without the sweat and sacrifices of those who carried them out. For over 100 years, we were taught only of the accomplishments of the so-called "great men" of history. To me, it's none too soon to tell about whose backs they broke to gain their claims to fame.

> I enjoyed the program very much, as always,
> when railroads are the subject of such a
> high quality production. Having recently
> seen this, and "Chicago - City of the
> Century", I was keenly aware of the
> "PBS approach" to history
> (liberals may wish to stop reading here).

> Since the Pacific Railroad was first and
> foremost a tremendous technological feat, I
> had hoped to see a tiny bit more time
> devoted to the engineering aspects of the
> project. It's difficult for me to accept a
> view of events that reduces everything to
> either victims or victimizers. Our children
> are taught that the transcontinental
> railroad was all about the mistreatment of
> Chinese, Indians, laborers, buffalo, etc.,
> at the hands of greedy, irresponsible
> capitalists, when it was so much more than
> that.

> Is history without a social agenda too much
> to ask? >sigh<


ryarger@rypn.org

Thomas,

The "American Experience" series on PBS produced a program named "The Iron Road" about the Pacific Railroad. My mom bought it as a video tape for me some time back.

It had interviews with former train crews, and discussed some of the technological problems they overcome. Yes, it has the "politically correct" stuff (Chinese laborers and their working conditions, the impact on the Indians, etc.) but I found the format to be balanced and not skewed either way. It presented the accomplishment as a triumph for America, not for greedy capitialists.

It also featured footage of the steam train replicas at the national park at Promontory Point. I wish I knew where she ordered it from.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

> I enjoyed the program very much, as always,
> when railroads are the subject of such a
> high quality production. Having recently
> seen this, and "Chicago - City of the
> Century", I was keenly aware of the
> "PBS approach" to history
> (liberals may wish to stop reading here).

> Since the Pacific Railroad was first and
> foremost a tremendous technological feat, I
> had hoped to see a tiny bit more time
> devoted to the engineering aspects of the
> project. It's difficult for me to accept a
> view of events that reduces everything to
> either victims or victimizers. Our children
> are taught that the transcontinental
> railroad was all about the mistreatment of
> Chinese, Indians, laborers, buffalo, etc.,
> at the hands of greedy, irresponsible
> capitalists, when it was so much more than
> that.

> Is history without a social agenda too much
> to ask? >sigh<


Surviving World Steam Project
james1@pernet.net

Events which we now consider historic arose from the actions precipitated by people caught up in the political and social relaities of their time. It is our attempt to view their actions through the consciousnesses of our time that leads to the distortion of political correctness. An accurate and unemotional explaination of the consciousness which led to the actions involved in the creation of the transcontinental railroad would be enlightening.

Making history personally relevant without creating these distortions is probably the most difficult challenge we face. Why should visitors to our museums care about the history we present if it isn't personally relevant to them in some way? How can we make points of view which haven't been popular for decades those through which our visitors view our interpretation?

Dave

> Events which we now consider historic arose
> from the actions precipitated by people
> caught up in the political and social
> relaities of their time. It is our attempt
> to view their actions through the
> consciousnesses of our time that leads to
> the distortion of political correctness. An
> accurate and unemotional explaination of the
> consciousness which led to the actions
> involved in the creation of the
> transcontinental railroad would be
> enlightening.

> Making history personally relevant without
> creating these distortions is probably the
> most difficult challenge we face. Why should
> visitors to our museums care about the
> history we present if it isn't personally
> relevant to them in some way? How can we
> make points of view which haven't been
> popular for decades those through which our
> visitors view our interpretation?

I haven't yet watched the PBS show in question (it's on videotape upstairs), but I have run into quite a lot of the "agenda-driven" re-telling of history being discussed here.

Granted, the telling of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad (or any such historic endeavor) cannot be told without delving into the realities of the people involved. However, one has to look at books such as James W. Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything your American History Textbook Got Wrong" and "Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong", or any of a number of contemporary "histories" of American cities currently in vogue (usually best described as encapsulations of social programs and biographies of left-leaning social activists), to see how far the pendulum can swing the other way.

Just today I heard an interesting comparision of writers, editors, documentarians, etc. falling into two categories: Thinkers and Feelers. I will continue this line with a new post.


lner4472@bcpl.net

I can't resist... must respond...

I like Eric's response: "Whose agenda?"

Yes the building of the transcontinental railroad was a tremendous feat. Nearly every aspect of it was a first... but we should not forget that the men (i.e. executives) of the UP and CP made darn sure their personal needs (greed) were met first. This is an excellent lesson for our own times.


Washington Steam Railroads and Locomotives
brianf425@yahoo.com

> For those who missed last night's premire of
> the "Transcontinental Railroad" on
> PBS, here's a link to the American
> Experience website.
The first transcontinental railroad was built 15 years before Promontory. In fact, it aided the trainsportation of equipment from each coast to enable the Herculean effort.
I refer, of course, to the Panama Railroad, built in 1855. It may have been only 47 miles long, running north and south, but it connected the two coasts and was heavily used to transport people and goods both ways. You'll recall Judah died as a result of a disease caught by riding the train across Panama.
Just a slight correction to an otherwise wonderful show.


hankmorris@earthlink.net

Have you tried pbs.org? They offer many of their programs for sale on video, but I don't know if that one is included.

>Is history without a social agenda too much to ask?

Did you happen to see the "Modern Marvels" program on the History Channel about the Trans-Siberian Railroad? (It ran this past Tuesday evening.) I'd offer it as a commendable balance of just-the-facts-ma'am, and the human element, as it portrayed the building of this astounding railroad. If you missed the program, keep watch on History Channel listings for another showing, as they routinely repeat their programs. Or go to historychannel.com to purchase the video.

American Experience: The Iron Road (VHS)

Actors: Richard Dix , Jane Wyatt , Albert Dekker , Lee J. Cobb , Victor Jory , Lola Lane , Max Baer , Joe Sawyer , Harry Allen , Francis McDonald , George Reeves , Bill Nestell , Merrill McCormick
Directed by: Lesley Selander
Retail: $19.95
Our Price:$ 11.83 You Save: $8.12! (41%)
Availability: 4 In Stock!

Synopsis:

VHS Features: • NTSC format
• Color, Closed-captioned, Black & White, NTSC

Released: 12/01/1998
Item Type:
Rated:
ISBN: 9990825750
Language: Format: VHS
Run time: 60 minutes
B/W?:
Color?:
Subtiled?:

Extra Info:
Product Manufacturer:WGBH WHOLESALE
Catalog Number: 783421275430IE
Category: DOCUMENTARY

Also found it for as much as $19.95 (at Amazon.com). Don't seem to be out on DVD yet, just VHS. Here's where I found the cheapest price according to my search engines:


American Experience: The Iron Road (VHS)
bilburns1313@tds.net