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Summary:
On December 31, 1999, after nearly a century of rule, the United States officially ceded ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama. That nation did not exist when, in the mid-19th century, Europeans first began to explore the possibilities of creating a link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the narrow but mountainous isthmus; Panama was then a remote and overlooked part of Colombia.
All that changed, writes David McCullough in his magisterial history of the Canal, in 1848, when prospectors struck gold in California. A wave of fortune seekers descended on Panama from Europe and the eastern United States, seeking quick passage on California-bound ships in the Pacific, and the Panama Railroad, built to serve that traffic, was soon the highest-priced stock listed on the New York Exchange. To build a 51-mile-long ship canal to replace that railroad seemed an easy matter to some investors. But, as McCullough notes, the construction project came to involve the efforts of thousands of workers from many nations over four decades; eventually those workers, laboring in oppressive heat in a vast malarial swamp, removed enough soil and rock to build a pyramid a mile high. In the early years, they toiled under the direction of French entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps, who went bankrupt while pursuing his dream of extending France's empire in the Americas. The United States then entered the picture, with President Theodore Roosevelt orchestrating the purchase of the canal--but not before helping foment a revolution that removed Panama from Colombian rule and placed it squarely in the American camp.
The story of the Panama Canal is complex, full of heroes, villains, and victims. McCullough's long, richly detailed, and eminently literate book pays homage to an immense undertaking. --Gregory McNamee
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Excellent
Customer Rating:
Price was reasonable, book was as described and was received promptly. Have already read it and it was most interesting.
Very thorough, a full historical account of the canal
Customer Rating:
I became interested in the canal after watching a program on History Channel. This book did not disappoint. It covered the full gamut, from the earliest efforts by the French to the final completion by the USA.
This is a very detailed account, therefore it's quite a long book. But I do highly recommend it, you will discover that the canal project was a monumental task that nearly brought TWO nations to failure.
The Path Between the Seas
Customer Rating:
This is a fascinating story of the entire history of the construction of the Panama Canal, beginning with the French, who had recently completed construction of the Suez Canal at sea level.
With virtually no advance surveys of the terrain at Panama, de Lesseps decided to build a sea level canal, since that had done the job at Suez. The French government became involved in the financing, and millions of francs were spent and thousands of lives lost to malaria and yellow fever, before the project was given up. This brought about the fall of the French government.
With some highly suspicious maneuverings by Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. gained independence of Panama from Columbia and eventually built the canal after discovering the cause of malaria and yellow fever and taking steps to avoid it.
The usual excellent writing by David McCullough.
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
Customer Rating:
Having spent the first twelve years of my life (1933-1945) in the Canal Zone, and with a father that began working for the Panama Railroad Company when he was only nineteen, I have always had an interest in the history of that great achievement. Thus, I have read many books on the subject. This was by far the most in depth, detailed and INTERESTING of them all. The author tied all the various entities involved into one fascinating story, although historical, that seemed like a developing dramatic story. If someone wants to learn about this "wonder of the world" achievement and do so in an enjoyable manner, this book is for you.
Digging the Big Ditch
Customer Rating:
THE PATH BETWEEN THE SEAS has three super things going for it. First, it's written by David McCullough, a popular historian with spellbinding storytelling ability. Second, it involves shady business deals and even shadier politics. Third, it's about using big, noisy machines to move dirt around, and what guy (at least) hasn't liked that since playing with Tonka trucks?
The Panama Canal was an amazing engineering feat for its time (it opened in 1914); indeed it remains a marvel to this day. It was terrifically hard to build, and cost tens of thousands of lives, but in the end was proven to have been beautifully designed. The French had attempted to build a sea-level canal in the 1880s and 1890s, but failed. The Americans, who had been thinking of a Nicaraguan route, took over the French project, and through grit and determination--and, crucially, realization that a canal with locks was the only practicable solution--finally triumphed. The breaking out of the Great War (World War I) overshadowed the long awaited opening of the Canal, but the Canal soon demonstrated its worth.
McCullough is, as to be expected, an engaging writer. One gets the sense, though, that he struggled to bring some of this material alive. The first section, on the French attempts at Panama canal building, is, frankly, a bit dull. Once the Americans become involved the story takes on fresh life, either despite of or account of the Americans having engaged in some imperialistic adventuring to get a hold of the canal land under terms favorable to U.S. interests. However that may be, it's also due to the no-nonsense, clear thinking, pragmatic American engineers like John Frank Stevens and George Washington Goethals that the Americans triumphed in the wake of French failure. Also, as McCullough points out, by the time the locks were built the available technology had improved enormously since French days.
The abridged audio version likely does not do justice to the very long original work (700 pages); one notices the gaps. But the audio version nonetheless gives you the salient points about the Canal's construction, and it's read beautifully by actor Edward Herrmann. McCullough is at his best with the biographical material. Financial details and French politics aren't as compelling as his stories about the people that led the project. One wishes, though, for more anecdotes about the average people who did all the heavy lifting, as it were. Those were the guys playing with the Tonka trucks.
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