The Iron Beast Author:Alan McKee In Britain during the railway "mania" of the 1840's the world was transformed by the new iron roads. No other invention in the history of the world made such an impact on society. It was the beginning of global pollution, multinational corporations and the unholy alliance between government and big business. Many members of the middle cla... more »ss tried to become rich by investing in railway stocks. Those at the bottom of society, the navvies, built the railways under fearfully dangerous conditions, and lived short, miserable lives. But a handful of this blood soaked under class became some of the richest men in the empire. They were friends of kings and queens and had power great enough to make and unmake governments and crush the rights of others. The Iron Beast is the story of a giant of a man who will stop at nothing to build the iron roads of Britain and raise himself high above the secrets and squalor of his early years.« less