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Last Train to Paradise

Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
The fast-paced and gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West Railroad—one of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken, destroyed in one fell swoop by the strongest storm ever to hit U.S. shores.
In 1904, the brilliant and driven entrepreneur Henry Flagler, partner to John D. Rockefeller, dreamed of a railway connecting the island of Key West to the Florida mainland, crossing a staggering 153 miles of open ocean—an engineering challenge beyond even that of the Panama Canal. Many considered the project impossible, but build it they did. The railroad stood as a magnificent achievement for more than twenty-two years, heralded as “the Eighth Wonder of the World,” until its total destruction in 1935's deadly storm of the century. 
In Last Train to Paradise, Standiford celebrates this crowning achievement of Gilded Age ambition, bringing to life a sweeping tale of the powerful forces of human ingenuity colliding with the even greater forces of nature’s wrath.
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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Henry Flagler made a fortune in Standard Oil and spent it developing the state of Florida as a tourist destination. In the early years of the twentieth century, he built a railroad from Miami to Key West, a 153-mile span then regarded as "The Eighth Wonder of the World." Les Standiford expands the story of the railroad into a portrait of Flagler--a tough businessman and devoted husband who brings his frail wife to Florida for her health and then develops an affection for the state--and a portrait of the rise of a major tourist destination. Richmond Hoxie's reading is understated, never getting in the way of the material. This account offers a fascinating slice of American history. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      In 1904, Henry Flagler, an oil man made rich by his partnership with John D. Rockefeller, dreamed of building a railroad over 153 miles of open ocean from Florida's mainland to the island of Key West. The planning, financing, construction, and heartbreaking failures the enterprise faced are the substance of this story, which focuses on the unusual dedication of a great man to a plan. Richmond Hoxie's deep, resonant voice has a pleasant flow for nonfiction, making a pleasant companion with whom we face Flagler's doubt, disappointment, disaster, and debt. Our suspense is maintained to the end, as we wonder whether he will live to ride the railroad line he envisioned. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 8, 2002
      A good idea—to have a novelist tell the story of Henry Morrison Flagler, the 19th-century mogul credited with developing Florida as a vacation paradise—goes sadly astray here. Readers hoping to learn about the man will be disappointed, as will those looking for a good yarn about the engineering marvel that is this tale's centerpiece—Flagler's creation, in the early 20th century, of a rail line that traversed 153 miles of open ocean to link mainland Florida with Key West. The narrative bumps along, frequently veering off into tantalizing detours that lead nowhere. Standiford presents pages about the power of hurricanes to destroy property and savage the human body, an emphasis that is the book's undoing: readers are led to believe that storm damage in 1935 was the sole reason for the railroad's abandonment. This prompts Standiford to argue that Flagler's undertaking was a "folly" from the start, as his contemporaries claimed, and that his story constitutes a classic "tragedy." In fact, the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) was undone as much, if not more, by a force Standiford never mentions: the internal combustion engine. After the hurricane of 1935, investors and the government considered rebuilding the FEC, but decided instead on a highway. The book's conclusion references Shelley's cautionary poem "Ozymandias," a gloss on the impermanence of man's works. The warning might apply to this unsatisfying book. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Sept.)Forecast:An author tour will concentrate on Florida, where this book should sell well.

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