Thursday, February 18, 2010

Secret Subway by Martin Sandler

He was ready to begin. But in order to do so he would have to do something that no one in the world had ever done. Not only would he have to build a subway that would so impress city and state officials, the public, and the press that they would forgive his deception, but he would have to do it without anyone finding out about it until it was completed. The nation's first subway was about to be built in secret! (49)

In the late 1860s, New York was known as having "the biggest, the fastest, the most, the tallest, the greatest!" But New York was also the busiest and most crowded, with thousands of people, horses, and vehicles on the streets every day. Alfred Ely Beach, a young inventor, was intent on fixing the city he loved and called home. He had an idea of moving people underground, which many took to mean in the dank, dark, and dreary. Those who saw the potential in the project were corrupt by greed and above ground taxi services. That is when Beach decided to tunnel under the busy city streets in secret. Secret Subway by Martin W. Sandler tells the fascinating tale of one man's mission and the people who fought against it.


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