know. find this on the internet at commonwealth.org. i m david kennedy, professor of history emeritus and codirector of the building center for the american west at stanford university, and your moderator for this program. tonight s program is being held in association with the california historical society. it s now my pleasure to introduce our distinguished guests, richard white, also professor of history at stanford university and codirector at the center for the american west with me and the author of the new book railroaded: the transcontinentals and the making of modern america. richard is to be more precise the market byrne professor history at stanford where he has been since 1998. he previously taught among other places at the university of utah and the university of washington would he took his ph.d. my wonderful colleague is widely regarded as a leading, one might say the leading scholar in three distinct but related field, the history of the american west, envir