Tom Morrison – författare

Between 1900 and 1950, Americans built the most powerful steam locomotives of all time--enormous engines that powered a colossal industry. They were deceptively simple machines, yet, the more their technology was studied, the more obscure it became. Despite immense and sustained engineering efforts, steam locomotives remained grossly inefficient in their use of increasingly costly fuel and labor. In the end, they baffled their masters and, as soon as diesel-electric technology provided an alternative, steam locomotives disappeared from American railroads. Drawing on the work of eminent engineers and railroad managers of the day, this lavishly illustrated history chronicles the challenges, triumphs and failures of American steam locomotive development and operation.

Seventeen year old Augustus DuBois is called upon, withhis local militia members, to help stop the Rebel secessionat the fi rst battle of Bull Run. When this fails, the war beginsto stretch out and Augustus decides to extend his enlistmentto try to help fi nish the task. At the siege of PetersburgAugustus and two of his companions are captured and sent tothe Andersonville prison. Here he sees and experiences mansinhumanity to man regardless of which side he is on. He hearsthe quandry of the prison commander whose calls for aidfall on deaf ears. After escaping the prison, Augustus and hiscompanions join general Shermans forces on the infamousMarch to the Sea. The war ends and after some serious soulsearching, Augustus makes a decision that sends him back intothe South. The book explores the issues of responsibilty andchain of command and whether the victors can set the rulesand write the history.

The Civil War is in its early stages when Joshua Stone leaves his home in rural North Carolina to help protect his family and to seek adventure. Joshua is taken to a training camp where he learns to soldier and becomes close to five other recruits who are his tent mates. He experiences war first hand at the battle of Fredericksburg. There he kills three enemysoldiers. He then begins to question the rightness of taking another life. One dark night, at the battle of Chancellorsville, he shoots a shadowy figure who turns out to be his own general Stonewall Jackson. From this point forward he can no longer shoot at another man. His group of buddies dwindles to three. And now he is running across the fields atGettysburg as a part of Picketts charge. His two remaining companions are killed and he leaves something on the battlefield that will tie him to Stonewall Jackson for the rest of his life. The story explores the issues of the justified killing of another human being, the treatment of negroes and the effects of war on soldiers both physically and mentally.