With maps of all the Confederate railroads and contemporary photographs and facsimiles of such documents as railroad tickets, timetables, and soldiers' passes, the book will captivate railroad enthusiasts as well as readers interested in the Civil War.
It also clearly pointed out that the South was severely hampered by three different track gauges limiting the ready ability to carry freight long distances. In addition, even though the track gauges of a connecting railroad might have been the same, many of them were state owned. And some states would not permit rolling stock to cross state lines. This meant offloading and reloading freight at the state border.
And the Southern railroads never came under a unified control until very late in the War - in contrast to the North. And the South only had about a third of the track miles that the North had.
I highly recommend this book to any serious student of Civil War history. You don't even have to be a rail fan to enjoy it.
But for those who like to play "What if?" and speculate on the fortunes of war, this book is a bleak testimony to the long odds the south confronted. The Confederate States were almost completely unequipped to fight a modern, industrial war.
One shortcoming of this book, and it is a minor one, is that the story is told primarily through the eyes of railroad tycoons, and ignores to a great extent the perspective of well-known military personalities. This stems in part from the fact that Black relies heavily on the railroads themselves (their annual reports) for his source material. More research from military source material would round the picture out.
On the whole, however, Mr. Black must be commended. As I said, "fascinating."
