author
John A. (John Alexander) Hill
1858–1916
A railroad engineer turned publisher, he brought the energy and detail of industrial America into both his writing and his business life. He is best remembered as a co-founder of the company that became McGraw-Hill, but he also wrote vivid stories shaped by real experience on the rails.
2 Audiobooks
Danger signals : Remarkable, exciting and unique examples of the bravery, daring and stoicism in the midst of danger of train dispatchers and railroad engineers
by John A. (John Alexander) Hill, Jasper Ewing Brady
Stories of the Railroad
by John A. (John Alexander) Hill
About the author
Born in 1858, John A. Hill worked in machine shops and as a railroad engineer before moving into publishing. That practical background gave his writing a grounded, firsthand quality, especially in pieces connected to railroads and engineering.
Beginning in 1888, he edited Locomotive Engineer and went on to build a career in technical and trade publishing. In 1902 he founded the Hill Publishing Company, which issued several major weekly magazines for engineers and industrial readers, including American Machinist, Power, Engineering News, The Engineering and Mining Journal, and Coal Age.
In 1909, he joined forces with James H. McGraw to create the McGraw-Hill Book Company, serving as its president until his death in 1916. Alongside that business legacy, his books and stories preserve the voice of someone who knew the railroad world from the inside.