The King's Best Highway

After Abraham Lincoln's electrifying speech about slavery on February 27, 1860, at Cooper Union in Manhattan, he traveled to Providence, Boston, Bridgeport, and other points along the Boston Post Road, delivering twelve speeches in six days, half of them from the road itself. His proximity to large New England audiences helped him reach the White House. That's just a small slice of the rich torte of American history this chronicle offers. From Ben Franklin's creation of the Post Office to the birth of modern Manhattan, from suburban sprawl to urban renewal, and everything in between, Eric Jaffe weaves a colorful, entertaining narrative with an historian's eye for detail and a journalist's flair for storytelling.

The Boston Post Road, a system of overland mail delivery routes between New York City and Boston, carried not just passengers but the march of American history itself. Jaffe follows its progress through four centuries, from Indian trail to interstate, and touches on the road's role in everything from the Revolutionary War to international espionage to the creation of the first mass-produced bicycles.

Featuring pocket histories of various industries, including railroads, gun-making, textile production, newspapers, automobiles, as well as a colorful cast of characters from PT Barnum to Robert Moses, "The King's Best Highway" is a delightful read for American history buffs everywhere.