Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930

Description

Author: Orsi, Richard J.

Publisher: University of California Press

Pub Date: 2005

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Book: Poor to Fair.  Binding tight.  No tears, bends or folds.  Previous owner’s blindstamp on upper corner ffep.  Gift inscription on second ffep/acknowledgement page.  Markings throughout.  The markings drag this down into the Poor to Fair category.  Light edge and corner wear.  Dust Jacket: Fair to Good.  NOT price clipped (no price indicated).  Some edge and corner wear.

Notes: Corporate history.  A conglomerate before we invented the term.   The Southern Pacific (SP) was the only American railroad built from west to east.  The “Sunset Limited” was the SP’s luxury train, from San Francisco to New Orleans.  “…the complex impact of a large, powerful business corporation on the process of settlement, economic development, and environmental change in the frontier region….despite some contradictions and inconsistencies of policy and action, the Southern Pacific identified its corporate interests with the public welfare and promoted more organized, efficient settlement, economic development, and more enlightened resource policies in its service area.  As a result, the company was a major force shaping agricultural, industrial, commercial, and urban growth and modernization.”  (From the Preface)