Home
Railroads the Old South: Pursuing Progress a Slave Society
Barnes and Noble
Railroads the Old South: Pursuing Progress a Slave Society
Current price: $63.00
![Railroads the Old South: Pursuing Progress a Slave Society](https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9780801891304_p0_v2_s600x595.jpg)
![Railroads the Old South: Pursuing Progress a Slave Society](https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9780801891304_p0_v2_s600x595.jpg)
Barnes and Noble
Railroads the Old South: Pursuing Progress a Slave Society
Current price: $63.00
Size: Hardcover
Loading Inventory...
*Product information may vary - to confirm product availability, pricing, shipping and return information please contact Barnes and Noble
Drawing from both familiar and overlooked sources, such as the personal diaries of Southern travelers, papers and letters from civil engineers, corporate records, and contemporary newspaper accounts, Marrs skillfully expands on the conventional business histories that have characterized scholarship in this field. He situates railroads in the fullness of antebellum life, examining how slavery, technology, labor, social convention, and the environment shaped their evolution.
Far from seeing the Old South as backward and premodern, Marrs finds evidence of urban life, industry, and entrepreneurship throughout the region. But these signs of progress existed alongside efforts to preserve traditional ways of life. Railroads exemplified Southerners' pursuit of progress on their own terms: developing modern transportation while retaining a conservative social order.
demonstrates that a simple approach to the Old South fails to do justice to its complexity and contradictions.