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Title: The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
Author: David McCullough
Genre: History
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Amazingly detailed recounting of the building of the Panama Canal from every angle--political, financial, technical, social, even medical.
Thoughts: The building of the Panama Canal is arguably one of the greatest feats of engineering the world has ever seen. As well as capping off an age of mechanical pride/hubris (steampunkers take note), it brought down a French government, utterly shifted the balance of power in South and Central America, changed the way we handle tropical diseases, and then at the moment of success, was completely overshadowed by the beginning of World War I.
McCullough does an amazing job of laying out all the numerous aspects of the multi-decade project. The book covers everything from how funding was raised to the details of Panama's revolution to how workers lived, ate, and entertained themselves (both the privileged white engineers and the fairly awful conditions of the black workers). It's a detailed, complicated, very long story; but McCullough humanizes it well and makes it relatively easy to follow.
Author: David McCullough
Genre: History
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Amazingly detailed recounting of the building of the Panama Canal from every angle--political, financial, technical, social, even medical.
Thoughts: The building of the Panama Canal is arguably one of the greatest feats of engineering the world has ever seen. As well as capping off an age of mechanical pride/hubris (steampunkers take note), it brought down a French government, utterly shifted the balance of power in South and Central America, changed the way we handle tropical diseases, and then at the moment of success, was completely overshadowed by the beginning of World War I.
McCullough does an amazing job of laying out all the numerous aspects of the multi-decade project. The book covers everything from how funding was raised to the details of Panama's revolution to how workers lived, ate, and entertained themselves (both the privileged white engineers and the fairly awful conditions of the black workers). It's a detailed, complicated, very long story; but McCullough humanizes it well and makes it relatively easy to follow.
