About this book
The Life of Thomas Telford; civil engineer with an introductory history of roads and travelling in Great Britain by Samuel Smiles presents the remarkable story of Thomas Telford and the roads, bridges and canals that reshaped Britain.
Smiles combines Victorian biography and literary history to follow Telford’s rise from modest beginnings to preeminent civil engineer of the Industrial Revolution, chronicling his visionary works—harbours, roads, viaducts and turnpikes—and their practical impact on commerce, travel and society. Interwoven with Telford’s life is a vivid survey of Britain’s travel history: ancient trackways and Roman roads, medieval packhorse routes, the turnpike era, stagecoaches, highwaymen and the gradual opening of the country’s communications. Themes of innovation, social progress and the engineering mind run throughout, set against the 18th–19th century context that made large-scale infrastructure possible.
Ideal for fans of biography and literature, history lovers, civil engineers and anyone curious about how transportation transformed Britain, this audiobook offers a compelling, informative portrait of a man whose roads helped build a nation.
