Regulating Railroad Innovation

Efforts to create and mold new technologies have been a central recurrent feature of the American experience since at least the time of the Revolution. Many of the most tumultuous events in the nation''s history have involved disputes over the appropriateness and desirability of particular technologies. For nearly a century railroad technology persistently posed novel challenges for Americans prompting them to reexamine their most cherished institutions and beliefs. Covering a now neglected aspect of American history Usselman traces their myriad struggles in rich detail.