The Men Who United the States

Most interesting parts were the beginning (explorers) and the end (inventors). The middle dragged somewhat.

Compelling, albeit incomplete, history that is well-told by Winchester, a naturalized American. He does an excellent job of explaining how the American spirit was shaped those who helped establish the “tangible connections” that helped to unite our country. These tangible connections (aka infrastructure) includes roads, canals, railways, telephone lines, and power grids, and, more recently, digital networks. This explains, at least to some extent, the almost complete absence of women from Winchester's narrative since, until relative recent history, women were simply not afforded the opportunity to conceive, develop, design, or build large-scale infrastructure projects. Thankfully, while there is still room for far more progress, women now have greater opportunities to lead in industries that contribute to our “unifying” infrastructures.