Exploding Steamboats, Senate Debates, and Technical Reports: The Convergence of Technology, Politics, and Rhetoric in the Steamboat Bill of 1838, and: Twisted Rails, Sunken Ships: The Rhetoric of Nineteenth-Century Steamboat and Railroad Accident Investigation Reports, 1833-1879 (review)

Steamboat and railroad accident investigations were a natural venue in which they came together. Brockman begins his analysis of steamboat accident reporting in Exploding Steamboats, Senate Debates, and Technical Reports with the passage of an 1838 bill, the first legislation passed by Congress to regulate interstate commerce to ensure public safety. Brockman extends his discussion in the second book, Twisted Rails, Sunken Ships, to include railroad accidents.