This is a study of the American Cable Car, a widely touted form of urban transformation once operated in 29 cities across the United States. The once-promising technology proved inefficient, however, and cable cars were soon replaced by electric trolley cars.

"No one before or since attempted such a complete history of the cable railway. It ranks very high in the area of U.S. transit history." --John D. White, Curator Emeritus of Transportation History, Smithsonian Institution
"There was nothing comparable before this book's appearance, and there has been nothing since." --Robert M. Vogel, National Museum of American History