In this wide-ranging and entertaining book, acclaimed author Tom Zoellner travels the globe to tell the story of the innovation and sociological impact of the railway technology that transformed the world

and could very well change it again.

From the frigid trans-Siberian railroad to the antiquated Indian railways to the Japanese-style bullet trains, Zoellner offers a stirring story of this most indispensable form of travel.

A masterful narrative history, Train explores the sleek elegance of railroads and their hypnotizing rhythms, and explains how locomotives became living symbols of sex, death, power, and romance.

‘Tom Zoellner is a literary magician … . once you open it up there are so many reasons to keep reading that it’s nearly impossible to put down.’

La Weekly

‘Spirited and bighearted … Zoellner enlightens us about an industry that’s hiding in plain sight.’

San Francisco Chronicle

‘Highly entertaining, lucid and perceptive … It’s a train lover’s celebration of the great epic story of rail travel itself.’

Hector Tobar, Los Angeles Times

‘In Train, Zoellner has made himself a veritable Walt Whitman of rail travel.

It’s a great read.’

Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb