Grand Central: How A Train Station Transformed America By Sam Roberts

Contents

Prologue: The Accidental Terminal

Rails vs. Rivers

The Commodore

The Depot

The Station

The Engineer

Terminal City

All Aboard

Gateway to a Continent

Saving Grand Central

The Restoration

The Characters

Commutation

Secrets of Grand Central

How It Works

Since 2001: A Space Odyssey

Epilogue: The Second Century

 

The New York Times’ urban affairs correspondent Sam Roberts (2013) affirms his book’s stance on Grand Central Terminal in the quote stated below:

This book is more about transportation. It’s about the expansion of the city of New York into a metropolis and the aggregation of metropolitan government, which mirrored the ruthless consolidation of corporate America and the nation’s railroads. The terminal was a product of local politics, bold architecture, brutal flexing of corporate muscle, and visionary engineering” (p. 17).

I believe Roberts’ book would be vital in my research because it provides historical information about the transition from water to railroad travel, the shift from steam-powered locomotives to electrification, and the driver behind Grand Central Terminal, Cornelius Vanderbuilt. Additionally, the popularization of the “red carpet treatment”, its impact on Park Avenue, urban renewal, and office building development during the Roaring Twenties, GCT’s birth, collapse, preservation, and restoration, the iconic cameos in film/television/media, its current progression as a commuter railroad, GCT employees that help keep it running at optimal performance, and a handful of little known secrets are discussed in depth.

 

Works Cited

Roberts, Sam (2013). Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America.

New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing.