From the author's preface:
"This book is supposed to be a portrait-but a portrait pieced together, as it were, of facts. Against a background of schemes and men, of great events and fateful decisions, I have traced the interlacing stories of stone and steel and people: of its Concourse and its great star-studded ceiling; of tracks and famous trains; of the clockmaster, the stationmaster and the men who throw the signal levers; of red caps, ticket sellers, information clerks, and gatemen; and of the "wild" rush of commuters hurrying home each night to the suburbs. I have attempted to bring all their many stories into a single focus, for Grand Central Station [sic] is all of these and all of these together are GrandCentralStation [sic]. I have attempted, not too solemnly, I hope, to tell their many stories-and let the final portrait emerge from the mixed mosaic."
