A contest between grassroots activism and corporate greed In one of the great political and economic movements of the nineteenth century, a fraternal organization of Midwest farmers permanently changed the trajectory of American railroads. When rising shipping rates threatened their ability to get their crops to market, these small farmers banded together to form the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. Deftly handling the levers of power in their clash with robber barons, the organization’s pattern of regulation all but controlled the development of national rail policies for more than a century. Historian Daniel Faas details the history of the Grange Movement and its role in shaping the Midwest and the modern American rail system. A contest between grassroots activism and corporate greed Daniel Faas graduated from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and classics. From 2016 to 2024, he taught social studies. In 2024, he transitioned to teaching at-risk students through the Rural Virtual Academy of Wisconsin. Since September 2020, Daniel has been in charge of historical quality control for Frontier Media Group, a media company that operates three YouTube channels with a combined subscriber base of more than one million. Daniel’s desire to learn more about the history around him and his research at Frontier Media drove him to write his first book.