On Wednesday, May 21, six of us gathered at the home of Nisha Thatte-Potter to discuss “The Associates,” by Richard Rayner. We all felt we’d learned from this account of the four Californians who maneuvered, lied, bribed—and succeeded—in a fantastically determined drive to build the western portion of the transcontinental railroad. We found it a quick but not scintillating read that conveyed the enormous effort required for this achievement, not least by the workers, many of them imported Chinese. We felt the book suffered from not having maps and other visuals to illustrate the history, and also from its business focus—we would have liked fuller biographies of these four men of “astounding ingenuity and boundless energy.” The author’s concluding statements led us to an interesting discussion of capitalism and what is, or is not, quintessentially American about this story. Thanks to Nisha for hosting us.