American cities' rapid expansion after the Civil War fueled the growth of organized transportation systems - omnibuses, horsecars, and later electric streetcars. Trolley Wars traces the social dynamics of these first mass-transportation systems as they developed in Rhode Island, the most urbanized state in Gilded Age America.

Covering years of careening growth, Scott Molloy focuses on the laborers who operated the transit system, the changing ownership of the streetcar lines, and the strong bond that grew between trolley crews and passengers - a bond that sustained a powerful political alliance during the bitter "car wars" of 1902.

Nineteenth-century motormen and conductors often spent their entire career on one route, becoming sentinels of the community with loyal followings among riders. As the changeover from horsepower to electricity revolutionized urban travel, out-of-state syndicates purchased the transit lines and instituted cost-saving measures that irritated employees and patrons alike.

Even more unsettling was the links between the corporations and the Republican-dominated state legislature in Rhode Island - an unholy alliance that ignored the organized carmen's demand for better wages, shorter hours, and safety improvements. A showdown, Molloy demonstrates, was inevitable.

1. Labor's response to corporate arrogance and corrupt politics galvanized citizens throughout Providence, Pawtucket, and surrounding industrial areas. The ensuing walkout, transit boycott, strike, and fundraising efforts to aid picketing workers during the car wars were supported across class lines and directed at both the railroad and the politicians.

Molloy dissects Rhode Island's 1902 car wars and relates them to a larger pattern of labor unrest and urban malaise throughout the country. He argues that the development of urban mass transportation involved a battle for control of city streets and city government. By focusing on transit workers in Rhode Island, Trolley Wars reveals the ways in which America became an urban and suburban nation after the Civil War.