Edward Segal, the country’s top expert on the history of campaign trains in American politics, today announced the publication of Whistle-Stop Politics: Campaign Trains and the Reporters Who Covered Them.

It is the first book to take a deep dive into how presidential, congressional, and other candidates have used campaign trains for more than 185 years to connect with voters at depot and trackside rallies across the country.

Filled with engaging anecdotes and striking images, Whistle-Stop Politics is an exciting journey back into America’s political past, opening new windows into the personalities and political campaigns that shaped our history. The stories include:

• How and why some politicians allowed others to impersonate them on campaign train trips.

• The VIP guest on two presidential train tours who later became president.

• How the whistle-stop train of a candidate’s wife helped change the role of women on the campaign trail.

• The president who traveled the railroads so much that Congress questioned whether any work he did outside of the nation’s capital was legal.

Whistle-Stop Politics, in hardcover and ebook editions, is available wherever books are sold.