Interviews

A Conversation with Doug Most, Author of The Race Underground

What about the history of the subway inspired you to start writing the book?

I was particularly interested in Boston's subway, having lived here now for a decade, ridden the subway and been surprised to learn that nobody had written a definitive story of Boston's story. Subways are the fabric that bind cities together, and that's certainly true in Boston and New York. As I explored the story behind subways, I was fascinated to learn how people were terrified of going underground. I loved that detail. And it sparked a whole level of reporting for me.

What do you hope readers will take away with them when they finish the book?

I want them to have an appreciation for what their predecessors did for them, how more than a century ago it was brilliant engineers, determined politicians, and hard-working, blue-collar sandhogs who dug for a living, all of whom came together to create their subways. They died to build these subways. They spent years studying, debating, digging, and fortifying the walls of these tunnels that became the subways of today. It was an engineering miracle, the idea of digging under the streets of busy cities, but it was a miracle that was realized and it's important that today's generation of dreamers realize how much hard work is necessary to make dreams come true.

What is it about the race to build the country's first subway that has such a wide appeal?

Everybody loves firsts. And everybody loves a good competition. In this case, throw in the fact that it was Boston and New York building subways at the same time and it's just a great story. These two cities are linked in so many ways. They are linked by their close proximity to each other, barely two hundred miles. They are linked by sports, from baseball and Babe Ruth to football and basketball. They are linked even by politics. The last two mayors of New York City are actually from the Boston area. How strange and cool is that? Both cities in the late 1800s needed relief, they were desperately overcrowded and they both turned to subways at the same time. Except one of those cities was able to move faster than the other. In every story like this there, someone has to get there first. And that's a story that never gets old.

What do you find most satisfying about writing?

I've enjoyed writing since I was a boy and into my teens. I love words and creating interesting sentences and most of all telling a good story. When a story hooks you from the first sentence or first paragraph or first chapter, there is no better feeling than of being swallowed up in a story.

Which writers have influenced you the most?

I hesitate to single any out. But there are styles of storytelling I love. Throughout the writing of this book, two authors remained on my office bookshelf, and when I found myself stuck I would crack one of their books for inspiration. The first was obvious: David McCullough, the master storyteller of great history books. The Great Bridge was a tour de force, the story of the Brooklyn Bridge, and I must have opened it a hundred times. The other writer was Laura Hillenbrand. Her two books, Seabiscuit and Unbroken are just amazing examples of narrative storytelling. I loved those books. The way that I fashioned my opening of The Race Underground, with a short, three-page scene-setting story, was modeled after the way Hillenbrand opened Seabiscuit, which I loved.
[As did we: Seabiscuit was a 2001 Discover pick. -Ed.]

ho have you discovered lately?

Well, the last five years my life was consumed by history books and trains and subways, so I didn't get to read as much for pleasure as I wished. A colleague and friend of mine, Neil Swidey, has written two amazing books that are exactly what I love about nonfiction storytelling, The Assist and Trapped Under the Sea. I think he has many more great nonfiction narratives in him. I loved the book about New York mansions and the eccentric rich woman, Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman. I devoured the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, not exactly a new journalist, but a new book. On the fiction side, as a sports fan and someone who used to cover minor league baseball, I loved Chad Harbach's debut novel, The Art of Fielding. I'm excited to read for pleasure again.