false 2372 17 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.<p> 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.<p> 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. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> 1025700 1978 The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 total:669|5:227|4:292|3:135|2:11|1:4| 669 2734 1168 154 3 1 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 18:41:19 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 18:56:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 15 14:42:18 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 15:03:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 13 14:36:02 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 14:55:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Apr 26 12:08:34 -0700 2009 Fri May 01 08:24:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Dec 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 09 10:41:36 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 10:11:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 12:50:30 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 13:03:46 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Aug 30 14:03:57 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 30 14:12:33 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Tue Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 15:42:30 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 17:24:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 20:23:36 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 20:33:09 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Apr 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 12:27:36 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 12:32:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jul 28 12:12:45 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 12:18:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat May 30 12:36:44 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 12:40:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Sep 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jan 09 11:24:27 -0800 2009 Thu Sep 03 09:43:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 29 16:02:41 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 06 18:31:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 05 10:03:31 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 19 17:16:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 09:41:05 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 11:01:58 -0700 2008
Honestly, I can't believe that I actually finished this monster, which has to be one of the longest history books I've actually read.

McCullough wrote 'The Path Between the Seas' in 1977, but as I got ready ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jul 31 15:16:39 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 07:57:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1982 Mon Mar 24 08:06:39 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 24 08:13:54 -0700 2008
McCullough, like Ambrose, brings history to the masses. This is not to say that it is lightweight in any regard, but rather that it is ac...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue Feb 26 08:08:18 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 08:25:25 -0800 2008
My father-in-law was reading this book while my wife and I were engaged. He loved it. I thought that he was a little crazy. How could the Panama Canal be so riveting? How could a person stand to rea...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Sep 04 13:43:42 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 18 19:08:31 -0800 2008 Thu Sep 04 13:43:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2372