The Yankee Road

Who is a Yankee and where did the term come from? Join author Jim McNiven as he explores the emergence and influence of Yankee culture while traversing an old transcontinental highway reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific—US 20, which he nicknames "The Yankee Road." The Yankee Road: Tracing the Journey of the New England Tribe that Created Modern America combines fascinating history with a travel narrative, taking the reader on a journey through the places Yankees and their descendants settled as they expanded westward. Using a physical road to connect locations important to the Yankee cultural "road," McNiven takes us on side trips into individual stories, introducing readers to the origins of such large-scale and diverse ideas as conservation, public education, telegraphy, mass production, religion, and labor reform. 


This second volume of a projected trilogy, Domination, centers on the growth of industry around the Great Lakes in the mid-nineteenth century into the twentieth century, something that led to the Yankee victory in the Civil War and the emergence of the reunited country as a major world power. Erastus Corning, Ida Tarbell, John Brown, JD Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Kellogg brothers, the Wright brothers and Judge Gary, all make appearances.


About the Author

James D. McNiven is professor emeritus of management at Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada, and senior policy research advisor with Canmac Economics Ltd. He has been the president of a regional think-tank, a senior government official, and former dean of the Dalhousie Faculty of Management. He has been the CEO of a small technology company and a member of a number of corporate and government boards. Dr. McNiven has written widely on public policy and economic development issues and is the author or coauthor of four books, including the first volume of The Yankee Road, www.theyankeeroad.com.