Trolley wars

American cities' rapid expansion after the Civil War fueled the growth of organized transportation systems - omnibuses, horsecars, and later electric streetcars. Trolley Wars traces the social dynamics of these first mass-transportation systems as they developed in Rhode Island, the most urbanized state in Gilded Age America. Covering years of careening growth, Scott Molloy focuses on the laborers who operated the transit system, the changing ownership of the streetcar lines, and the strong bond that grew between trolley crews and passengers - a bond that sustained a powerful political…