In Destiny's Children, historian Roger Herst delivers a novel uniting east and west through the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and the convergence of two dramatically dissimilar families. Manchu artillery deserter Wong Po-ching survives execution, escapes to America, and makes his way to California's Sierra Nevada, where he finds work on the Central Pacific Railroad. Irishman Theo Gallager, superintendent of construction, is a proud man who eschews authority. As a result of their mutual success laying track through the tortuous granite of the high Sierra, the two men are...