The Path Between the Seas : The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

Rating:
Summary: Took me 4 years to read this book!
Review: ... well, it didn't literally take me 4 years to read it. My dad lent me this book, and it sat on the shelf for 4 years. I never enjoyed history very much in school, and this just seemed like it would be deadly-dull.

How wrong I was! This story is amazing. They say truth is stranger than fiction. If this story was fictional, I'd give it a lower rating because it would have been so hard to believe. The fact that it's all true left me slack-jawed.

These days, we seem to be much more cautious about risk-taking. As I write this review, our entire manned space program is on hold, and may be on hold for years go come, due to a shuttle accident. But this book shows you the bold risk-taking that made this country into a superpower.

You will be in awe of the scale of the undertaking, first by the French, and later the Americans. You will be aghast at the toll in human life. But most of all, you will be engrossed and enriched by this remarkable book.

This book, which I was SO sure would be deadly dull before I read it, sparked an interest in historical books and even historical fiction that has opened vast new horizons for me.

The building of the Panama canal ranks up there with the buildng of the transcontinental railroad, the Great Wall of China, and the Great Pyramid as one of the most amazing examples of what can be accomplished by brilliance, hard work on a vast scale, and sheer indominable human will.

Buy this book, and don't let it gather dust for years like I did!

Rating:
Summary: An incredible feat!
Review: This book was a pleasure to read! Building the Panama Canal today would be a monumental undertaking, even with all of our modern technology. Building it almost a century ago was truly an incredible triumph, not only of engineering, but of political will and human spirit! McCullough weaves all these aspects together in this wonderful history. The story of the first French efforts to build the canal and how America came to acquire the land and pick up the failed French effort is a fascinating tale. This story is interwoven with the story of the perseverance of the men who actually built the canal through dense, blisteringly hot jungle, overcoming weather, terrain, and the everpresent fear of tropical diseases.

Rating:
Summary: save up $1000 before you read this book....
Review: ... because you will be inspired to visit Panama to see the Canal. Fortunately tourism in the Canal Zone has become much easier ever since the US withdrew from the country. Many of the exclusive areas formerly reserved for Canal personnel are now open as hotels, restaurants, and for general tourism. McCullough writes about the flood of tourism that attended the Canal's construction and opening. He is probably responsible for quite a bit of the modern Canal tourism!