Joseph Jung is Professor Emeritus at the University of Fribourg and the author of bestselling biographies of the preeminent Swiss politician Alfred Escher and his daughter Lydia Welti-Escher, among many other works. He has received numerous awards for his pioneering research into 19th-century Swiss economic and cultural history.
"""Jung is an outstanding storyteller. Here he offers up an economic, transport, tourism and emigration history of Switzerland, well embedded in its context. The work is easy to read; Jung captivates the reader with his tales of the successes and failures of his pioneers."" Michael Kitzing, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Germany ""This book presents the brilliant transformation of Switzerland in the 19th century, in which this country and its political system surpassed most other European nations in democratic progress."" Holger Böhning, Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte ""An excellent, carefully illustrated and excitingly written panorama of an important chapter in Swiss history."" Jürg Müller, Schweizer Revue"