with uncertainty as the early years of telegraphy. Managers feared that telephone equipment might prove unreliable, and that a rapid change in dispatching methods might result in accidents or a breakdown in service. Schwantes has packed a commendable amount of information and analysis into a slim volume. His reliance on numerous railway and telegraph company archives, trade journals, government documents and an impressive array of secondary sources attests to the thoroughness of his research. The writing style is lucid and conveys clearly the evolution of two complex technologies, without reliance on specialist jargon. The telegraph and the railroad were arguably the two most important technological achievements of the nineteenth century. Their happy marriage has long been taken for granted, by Chandler and others. Anyone with a serious interest in either technology should pay careful attention to Schwantes’s findings. He has done a superb job of showing the ways in which individual personalities, national circumstances, public policies and historical contingency made that relationship far more complex than might have been imagined.

中文翻译：

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John A. Jakle 和 Keith A. Sculle，《补充美国铁路：早期汽车时代，1900-1940 年》

与电报早期一样的不确定性。管理人员担心电话设备可能不可靠，调度方法的快速变化可能会导致事故或服务中断。施万特斯将大量值得称道的信息和分析打包成一本薄薄的书。他对大量铁路和电报公司档案、贸易期刊、政府文件和大量二手资料的依赖证明了他的研究是彻底的。写作风格清晰明了，清楚地传达了两种复杂技术的演变，而不依赖于专业术语。电报和铁路可以说是 19 世纪最重要的两项技术成就。长期以来，钱德勒和其他人一直认为他们幸福的婚姻是理所当然的。任何对这两种技术有浓厚兴趣的人都应该仔细关注 Schwantes 的发现。他出色地展示了个人性格、国情、公共政策和历史偶然性使这种关系变得比想象中复杂得多的方式。