Summary: Chapter 8
Page 1: Steel, the New Magic
Iron production has been booming for years, but a new process greatly reduces the cost and time required to convert iron into steel, which offers greatly improved qualities.
Page 2: Industry on Steroids
As steel production rises, so does the production of large specialized machinery, while western ranchers irrigate, and destitute immigrants flood in from southern and eastern Europe
Page 3: Bigger is Better
Everything in America is bigger and grander than ever before, from mansions, bridges and monuments, to monster machinery and America's Cup yachts
Page 4: Crest of the Wave
Big Money is everywhere, as giant corporations like the Pennsylvania Railroad evade limits on size and ownership, while a new liquid fuel emerges called oil
Page 5: Mysteries Revealed
The mysteries of electricity are finally unraveled, leading to clever devices to produce light, send voice messages, and power appliances
Page 6: Lighting up the Night
Light bulbs and telephones are the first innovations to utilize electricity, but both need cables strung along telephone poles, to distribute power from central facilities
Page 7: Moving to the City
Good jobs, shopping and electrical conveniences are only available in urban centers, which begin to attract Americans from their isolated farms in the surrounding countryside
Page 8: Dense Populations
Urban centers are now cramming people into dense neighborhoods, which prompts municipalities to introduce centralized water, sanitation, health care, gas and fire departments
Page 9: Civic Amenities
Along with increased city services come new urban parks, libraries, museums, asylums and sometimes peculiar cult-like secret societies, which flourish mostly out of sight
Page 10: Engineering and Urban Schools
Medical, engineering and business schools emerge to meet America's increasing reliance on technology, while undersea cables provide links to Europe, and corporate trusts grow too big
Page 11: Still Driving Westward
Railroad frenzy pushes rail lines ever further west into prairie grasslands, where pioneers remain isolated, while remaining Indians are rounded up and corralled onto reservations
Page 12: American Celebration
Chicago, the new Midwestern hub, throws a technology party with a dazzling show of lights, while arms manufacturers are an ominously growing presence
Page 13: Great Lakes Iron
New iron ore fields in Minnesota are so massive that they deflect compass needles, while a transport system of lake freighters is developed to deliver the ore to blast furnaces
Page 14: Getting Away
Rail lines service mountain regions and coastal beaches, where fashionable resorts now offer quiet relaxation, and a new appreciation for the sporting life.
Page 15: More Products, More Choices
With factories sprouting everywhere, America is flooded with a tantalizing array of new products, including complete home furnishings and sensible ready-made clothing
Page 16: Splashy Ads
Advances in color lithography increase advertising appeal, with tobacco, beer and soap ads sharing the spotlight with beauty and home health products
Page 17: Engineering on Center Stage
Huge new displays of engineering wizardry pop up everywhere, from a suspension bridge taller than the masts of ships, to a giant statue, and the re-configuration of a mighty river
Page 18: Caught by the Camera
Small-town life is increasingly lost in the blizzard of American innovation, but a photographer manages to capture a snapshot of commercial life in a typical Michigan community
Page 19: Living in America
Daily life is also often lost to time, but photographs can bring it briefly back to life, in all its surprising variety
Page 20: Summing up the Century
The 100 years between 1800 and 1900 overflow with so many innovations and memorable achievements, that historians sometimes call it the 'long 19th century'