Whistle-Stop Politics: Campaign Trains and the Reporters Who Covered Them

This comprehensive history of politicking by train, known as whistle-stop politics, is well served by campaign manager turned journalist Segal’s (Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways To Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals and Other Emergencies) eye for crisis management and campaign logistics, plus his personal interest in campaign trains (he once organized a modern-day whistle-stop campaign train tour). Railroad tours allowed politicians to connect with small-town constituents across the country in innovative ways. The book is as much about the campaign trains as they are about the journalists who covered them, often featuring their first-person perspectives. Segal covers everything from how trains got their names to nonpolitical entities, including Robert Redford and the Ringling Brothers, who mimicked the marketing genius of whistle-stop publicity. Segal crafts a rich, well-researched collection of campaign stories and railroad engineering information. Narrator Eric Anaya offers a folksy, unhurried approach, reminiscent of a neighbor imparting information from his front porch swing. Though fitting for this nostalgic nonfiction, the languid presentation occasionally wears thin. While a PDF is included, listeners may miss seeing the book’s campaign pictures and political cartoons as the story unfolds.