The Men Who United the States

Simon Winchester, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, delivers his first book about America: a fascinating popular history that illuminates the men who toiled fearlessly to discover, connect, and bond the citizenry and geography of the U.S.A. from its beginnings.

How did America become "one nation, indivisible"? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America's most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators, such as Lewis and Clark and the leaders of the Great Surveys; the builders of the first transcontinental telegraph and the powerful civil engineer behind the Interstate Highway System. He treks vast swaths of territory, from Pittsburgh to Portland, Rochester to San Francisco, Seattle to Anchorage, introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today's United States.

Throughout, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree. Featuring 32 illustrations throughout the text, The Men Who United the States is a fresh look at the way in which the most powerful nation on earth came together.

Winchester structures this sweeping U.S. history around five classical elements that forged the nation:

• The American Frontier: Trace the path of Lewis and Clark and other essential explorers as they navigate the rivers and forests of a continent waiting to be known.
• Mapping the West: Discover the stories of the Great Surveys and the geologists who mapped the nation's vast resources, laying the groundwork for settlement and expansion.
• America's Canals and Rivers: Follow the creation of crucial waterways like the Erie Canal that connected the nation's heartland to its coasts, revolutionizing trade and travel.
• The Transcontinental Railroad: Experience the monumental effort to bind the country with steel, from the visionaries who planned the routes to the builders of the transcontinental railroad and the Interstate Highway System.
• A History of Technology: Meet the innovators behind the transcontinental telegraph, the telephone, and the modern internet--the metal wires and invisible signals that truly made America "one nation, indivisible".