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Robert W.S. Stevens. His contemporaries described him with awe and wonderment:
"New life, new energy, new enterprise, new rules and maxims of trade, come with the advent of railroads. Bob Stevens has set things a bobbing. His railroad has fallen upon us like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. He is everywhere all at once, omnipresent, ubiquitous, and irrepressible. He launches his iron rails as Jove did his thunderbolts. The rapidity with which he has built the railroad between here and Humboldt has no parallel in the history of railroad construction."
Chetopa, KS, Advance, June 1870.

This fascinating biography tells the inspiring story of an American businessman, lawyer, legislator (Kansas state and U.S. Congressman from N.Y.), and farmer. Woven through the life of Robert W.S. Stevens you'll find the stories of the American west, the railroad industry, and a great (though previously unheralded) American family.

• "Thunderbolt from a Clear Sky provides for the first time a complete history of one of nineteenth century America's truly extraordinary men. In the careful, well-written study, Robert C. Stevens and Betty Adams reveal just how pivotal Stevens was in the industrialization and modernization of America."
  Ralph J. Crandall,
  Executive Director Emeritus
  New England Historic Genealogical Society

• "Robert C. Stevens has produced a readable book that offers valuable insights into the business and personal life of his illustrious great-grandfather and into the early histories of Indian Territory, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas."
  I.E. Quastler,
  Professor Emeritus, San Diego State University,
  Author of books and articles on American railroad history