"Superb. [A] first-rate narrative" (The Wall Street Journal )
about the controversial construction of New York's beloved original
Penn Station and its tunnels\
As bestselling books like Ron Chernow's Titan and David
McCullough's The Great Bridge affirm, readers are fascinated with
the grand personalities and schemes that populated New York at the
close of the nineteenth century. Conquering Gotham re- creates the
riveting struggle waged by the great Pennsylvania Railroad to build
Penn Station and the monumental system of tunnels that would
connect water-bound Manhattan to the rest of the continent by rail.
Historian Jill Jonnes tells a ravishing tale of snarling
plutocrats, engineering feats, and backroom politicking packed with
the most colorful figures of Gilded Age New York.