The History and Future of Public Transportation

Grand Central is a beautifully illustrated, informative, and fun book that celebrates the history of the iconic Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Starting with the train station's grand opening in the winter of 1913, this book covers the rich history and legacy of Grand Central Station, with interesting stories that range from movies filmed at the station to the painting of the celestial ceiling in the main lobby. The book also lets readers in on the hidden areas of Grand Central, like secret tunnels and hidden passageways. This is a truly unforgettable book for anyone who loves trains or history.

Author Samuel I. Schwartz is the Traffic Commissioner of New York City, so he knows a lot about cars. In Street Smart, Schwartz looks at why American cities became so dependent on travel by car. Schwartz also explains how the current shift away from car travel has the potential to forever alter America's urban landscapes. Street Smart predicts a transportation revolution on our horizon, forever changing how people in cities get around.

With No One at the Wheel, Samuel I. Schwartz is back with another book predicting the future of transportation. In the future, Schwartz predicts that human drivers will not only be a thing of the past, driving will be illegal. The future is the driverless vehicle. Schwartz says we are on the brink of a driver-free revolution that will transform highways, urban planning, and laws across the globe.

Christian Wolmar is a journalist who focuses on the history and politics of railways. In his book Great Railroad Revolution, Wolmar looks at the rise and fall of the American railroads. When the first American railroad—the Baltimore & Ohio line—was built in the 1830s, it sparked a revolution as suddenly Americans were able to rapidly travel across the country. There were dreams of connecting every town in the country by railway. Then, other modes of transportation such as cars and airplanes began to outshine railroads, and many people forgot about them entirely. In recent years, however, America has begun to reclaim the railways, and Wolmar agues that we're possibly on our way to reinvigorating travel by train.

Wolmar is back to talk about more trains in his book To the Edge of the World. This book is about the Trans-Siberian Railway Line, which stretches nearly 6,000 miles between Moscow and Vladivostok. It is the world's largest railway line, and it was the most ambitious railway project of the nineteenth century. Highlighting the political and economic events that helped shape this railway's story, Wolmer looks at the history of the railway from conception to construction to today.

In the third Christian Wolmar book to make this list, Blood Iron and Gold, the author explores the dawning of a new era in transportation, and it all started with world's first railroad in Britain and America in 1830. Wolmar looks at how these first rail lines lead to a global railway system that would forever change the world and the way we travel.