Books & Coffee: The Associates

This month's Books & Coffee post is about The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California. It is a historic novel about the building of the Iron Horse in the late 1800s.  The book unfolds the true story of one man's dream and vision to build an intercontinental railroad across America, that fell into the hands of four shopkeepers who came to California during the Gold Rush and became some of the most powerful, influential, and wealthy men in California.  The man with the vision was civil engineer Theodore Judah and the men with the power were Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Charles Crocker.  It's an intriguing story about the building of the intercontinental railway that was intertwined with political strategy, the industrial revolution, and how it lead to the development of Southern California.  

I have paired the book with coffee poured into a cup and saucer that are reproductions of the beautiful Mimbreño China that was served on the Southwest Santa Fe Railway dining cars in the early 1900s.