Adele Gutman Nathan first became interested in the Atlantic Telegraph Cable when she was planning the Communications Room at the Museum of the City of New York. In the old files of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Bell Laboratories, she found accounts of the Great Gamble. She was fascinated by the unusual characters involved and the desperate chances they took in spite of the limited scientific knowledge of the day and the lack of exact data on which to proceed.
As a writer, a former newspaper woman, and a student of history, she immediately saw the dramatic possibilities of the story.
Mrs. Nathan's first Landmark book was The Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad, translated into numerous languages and a young people's classic.
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