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Summary: It takes that ole American "Can-Do" attitude to make a canal
Review: The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough is an excellent book which details the time period from the Gold Rush to the French involvement of the canal and through to the completion of the Panama Canal in the 2nd decade of the 1900's. This book in very efficient prose details why the canal's location is in Panama versus Mexico or Nicaragua. This is a bit of history that I was completely unaware of. It is also quite interesting to read about France's involvement and how they (surprise, surprise) failed in their attempt to achieved the successes enjoyed in the building of the Suez Canal. Mr. McCullough is also quite thorough in detailing the politics behind the building of the canal during that time period. The yellow fever and malaria eradication campaigns were instrumental in the success that the Americans enjoyed. The author does a good job in acknowledging the successes but not trivializing the very substantial loss of life suffered by the immigrant workers primarily from the West Indies. America did build the canal (and President Carter essentially gave it away), but it came at a heavy price monetarily and otherwise. Excellent book and a definitive resource for the layman.
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Summary: Interesting story!
Review: It takes a good author to make a subject like this interesting. McCullough accomplished it! The story behind the Canal is so much more than just the physical construction involved. The years of the French construction involved a lot of corruption and scandal that I'd never heard about! Then, after about two decades, American takes over, and within a few years the canal is open for traffic. The successful fight against the deadly mosquito was one of the turing points. McCullough talks a lot about some of the politics involved, in both the French and the American stages. The story behind the Panamanian revolution was quite interesting. . . the US more or less "stole" Panama from Columbia, I guess you could say. Definitely a good book, and worth your time to read.
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Summary: Impressive!
Review: It takes a good author to make a subject like this interesting. McCullough accomplished it! The story behind the Canal is so much more than just the physical construction involved. The years of the French construction involved a lot of corruption and scandal that I'd never heard about! Then, after about two decades, American takes over, and within a few years the canal is open for traffic. The successful fight against the deadly mosquito was one of the turing points. McCullough talks a lot about some of the politics involved, in both the French and the American stages. The story behind the Panamanian revolution was quite interesting. . . the US more or less "stole" Panama from Columbia, I guess you could say. Definitely a good book, and worth your time to read.
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Summary: David McCullough is a great American writer
Review: An exciting book that covers a fascinating time in American history. McCullough is a master of unraveling intrigue. He captures the spirit of time and does a wonderful job with Teddy Roosevelt. This book did not win a Pulitzer but clearly is worthy of consideration.
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Summary: Great telling of an epic.
Review: McCullough is a master of the English language. This was my first non-biography of his and though it was very entertaining, it was not quite as captivating as his John Adams or Truman. The book is divided naturally into the French effort and the American effort, with ample interlocking references. Fleshing out the individual principal characters is McCullough's strong suit, and as always, they seem to come alive in this book. Research is complete and lends just enough detail without becoming too tedious. The book seems to end rather abruptly, but then again that seems to be historically accurate, as much of the fanfare was lost in the European conflict that had erupted just as the Canal was opened. In any case, this is a job well done and a book worth reading.
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Summary: A Splendid History Of The Panama Canal's Construction
Review: So riveting is David McCullough's account of the construction of the Panama Canal, that it is one of the few works of nonfiction outside of the sciences that I have read twice. He chrnoicles a mesmerizing saga of despair and triumph, starting with Ferdinand de Lesseps disastrous attempt at building a sea level canal through the disease-infested jungles of Panama. The second half covers the American effort at building the Panama Canal, a project as grandiose as developing the atomic bomb or landing men on the moon. McCullough describes the groundbreaking work of Dr. Gorgas' team of doctors and nurses in combatting malaria and yellow fever; their success made possible the canal's eventual completion by U. S. Army engineer George Goethals. While McCullough does a splendid job in providing facts and figures with his graceful prose, he also excels in recounting the lives of many of the prominent figures associated with the Panama Canal's construction. For example, McCullough describes General Goethals' substantial role after the United States' entry into World War I and his subsequent work as the first chief engineer of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Indeed, if there is a hero in this saga, it most certainly has to be General Goethals. Along with McCullough's history of the Brooklyn Bridge's construction, this has to rank as one of the most spellbinding tales written about American technological ingenuity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Summary: Smashers of Rocks
Review: Stanley of Africa was known as the Smasher of Rocks, but he was decidedly minor league compared with the teams that built the Panama Canal. McCullough's epic is in two parts - the French story (glorious failure) and then the American (glorious success). The great strength of the narrative is that he gives equal attention to both sagas - and is equally adept at explaining the inner workings of the French project. Just as the Canal forms the link between two immense oceans, this tale links two of the most immense personalities of the fin de siecle: Ferdinand de Lesseps, victorious at Suez, vanquished at the Isthmus, and Theodore Roosevelt, emphatic proponent of the Great Enterprise - who stole an entire country to see it completed. Not only is this a story of great engineers (John Stevens, George Goethals), it is also a story of colorful lawyers (William Nelson Cromwell, co-founder of Sullivan & Cromwell) and trailblazing doctors (Dr. Gorgas' medical team found the means of preventing both malaria and yellow fever). Well worth the voyage.
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Summary: The path between the seas
Review: I first bought this book in the 1970's while living in the Panama Canal Zone. I remember it so fondly, as it helped me to better understand the history of the canal. I often noted the abandoned French canal site on the Atlantic side on my way to historic Ft. Sherman. I always expected John Wayne to come barreling through the palm trees for his take-off in a flying tiger aircraft. I remember the intra-canal railway, the periodic cave-ins in the Cuelebra cut since the cut was still unstable as late as the 1970's, the constant dredging it took to keep the canal open, the unbelievable precision of the canal locks, the operation of the canal which was almost entirely by gravity, and the fact that the USA never made a dime from it's operation. It was a wonderful time and I was so impressed by the unbelievable engineering it took to build this wonder and by the tremendous patroitism of the permanent canal residents. I often thought of the futility (insanity) of the French effort to dig a sea level canal, and of the thousands that died in it's construction. I remember that it was said that not a single person had died from malaria and yellow fever since the canal was opened - a wonder in itself. I was there on that terrible day when the USA signed the paperwork to give the canal back to Panama - a ridiculous idea that shocked most Panamanians more than us Americans. I will always have a hard time understanding, not to mention forgiving Jimmy Carter. I highly recommend this book to any and all. I loaned my original hardbook copy to a friend in the 1970's and it was never returned. After 25 years, I'm buying a paperback copy as a replacemnt and will undoubtedly enjoy reading it again.
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Summary: Vision, Hard Work & Sacrifice, Along With Politics= A Canal
Review: As with all of David McCullough's work you get a thoroughly researched piece that separates fact from unsubstantiated claims. If it's the latter he tells you so. The book provides excellent details of the early exploration and the initial French effort including profiles of Ferdinand de Lesseps and the engineers that supported. Reading McCullough's account of the meeting in Paris when the French decided to move forward with a sea-level canal makes you wish that you could have been present to enjoy the rhetoric. If you've ever wondered about the details of tropical diseases, malaria, yellow-fever, etc., this is the book that puts it the pain in perspective. But not just in terms of numbers of sick and deaths (one doctor estimated that one-third of the 19,000 work force were sick or dying in 1884) but in the physical and mental toll on specific individuals critical to the effort. The author points out how de Lessep's previous success both helped and hindered the French attempt but it's telling to learn that toward the end de Lessep acknowledged Panama was ten times harder. McCullough's effort with the US activities is just as complete including extensive details about the political intrigue of buying the isthmus from France and Panama seceding from Columbia. He also shares how the project seemed to destroy or alter some of the best leaders that this country could produce. As one reads this book they can find a photo included of almost every major character on the scene. And there's no glossing over things that are painful. For example the double standards of the color line between the unskilled West Indians who worked, lived, and died there and the whites who lived and worked almost in a paradise. Clearly the best history of the Panama Canal that I've ever read.
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Summary: Exciting
Review: This book provides the complete story of the construction of the canal. It provides a detailed picture of all the activities from the 1800's up and until it's compeletion.
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