It couldn’t be that the Transcontinental Railroad opened up thousands of square miles of land, connecting it back to civilization (“Gilded Age problems,” 12/9/19). It couldn’t be that it was an engineering marvel of its time. Nor could it have been an economic boom at the time. Nope, HCN just takes history and spins it so that, while wrong by today’s standards, it seems that all the U.S. has done is oppress and denigrate people. Pathetic.
—Richard Beauchamp
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline U.S. oppression or engineering marvel?.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
