Dennis Drabelle's "The Great American Railroad War"

Dennis Drabelle is author of Mile-High Fever. He has written for multiple publications and is currently a contributing editor and a mysteries editor for The Washington Post Book World. In 1996 he won the National Book Critics Circle’s award for excellence in reviewing. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, The Great American Railroad War: How Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris Took On the Notorious Central Pacific Railroad:

For Collis Huntington, I would cast Ed Asner, who has the right gruffness quotient. For Frank Norris, it should be Ryan Gosling, who has the good looks and can radiate the innate goodness that everyone who knew Norris raved about; and since Gosling needs to transcend the Marlon Brando clipped-speech imitation he often gives, this would be a good chance for him to play an aristocrat. As for Ambrose Bierce, I think Alec Baldwin could capture the cynicism and eagerness to refute fools.

Learn more about The Great American Railroad War at the St. Martin's Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Great American Railroad War.

--Marshal Zeringue