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The Path Between the Seas

The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

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The Path Between the Seas

Written by: David McCullough
Narrated by: Nelson Runger
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Summary

 The National Book Award–winning epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal, a first-rate drama of the bold and brilliant engineering feat that transformed global trade routes and shaped modern American history, as told by Pulitzer Prize–winning author and master historian David McCullough.

A national bestseller and testament to human determination, The Path Between the Seas tells the stories of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing a maritime passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. McCullough masterfully recounts astonishing engineering and medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. Applying his remarkable gift for writing lucid, lively exposition, McCullough weaves the many strands of the momentous event into a comprehensive and captivating tale.

Winner of the National Book Award for history, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, and the Cornelius Ryan Award (for the best book of the year on international affairs), The Path Between the Seas is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, technological innovation, international intrigue, and human drama. 20th Century Americas Central America Engineering Modern United States World Mathematics Imperialism American History Latin America
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Absolutely love the detail. Almost wish there was a part 2 that covered post construction (until today) with the same thoroughness.

Loved it

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A marvelous description of the creation of a great engineering achievement. A bit dry and detailed when it came to the technical narration of the structural side of the canal, but then this was part of the mission of the entire story. But the technical overkill was compensated by the other details of how and why the French had started it and failed, and true to the American spirits, how the Americans came to complete it.

GOOD HISTORY

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David McCullough’s history of the building of the Panama Canal is a revelation. The characters, the scale of their ambition and vision, the scope and cost (in money and lives), the political stakes, the making and ruining of reputations and fortunes in building the canal, both the first attempt by the French, and then the massive push by the US to takeover and complete the project - this story has clear parallels to what is happening with AI in Silicon Valley and in China today.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, the man who led the French attempt, a pathetic or maybe tragic character, a visionary evangelist, absolutely certain of his unequaled ability to take on unprecedented and expensive technical projects, his charisma and hubris, is a type familiar to anyone following Silicon Valley leaders like Elon Musk, or Sam Altman (or Adam Newumann at WeWork, or Elizabeth Holmes at Theranos). Leaders who are incapable of admitting the limits of their genius and ambition and capabilities. Teddy Roosevelt, the US President who sponsored the US project, was cut from the same cloth, but succeeded because he had the resources of the US government behind him.

The project’s (initial failure and eventual) final success came down to money (the French did not raise near enough capital from private investors and mismanaged the money, while the US would not have approved the project if they understood how much it would eventually actually cost), machinery (the US engineers were able to take advantage of new and more scalable construction technologies), management (the French project to build a sea-level canal was not viable from the start, the US started off shambolically, but fortunately the ambitious US first Chief Engineer of the project overplayed his hand renegotiating his position, and was replaced by a succession of two much more dedicated and capable managers, the first set up the necessary infrastructure, the second executed the construction of the canal through to completion), and medicine (the French did not understand that malaria and yellow fever were mosquito-borne leading to 20,000 unnecessary deaths and many more people incapacitated, while the US, under the direction of Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, following emerging new ideas in medicine, implemented a successful wide-scale sanitary program - draining swamps, covering open water, cutting grass, tracking and isolating infections - which kept most of the tens of thousands of men healthy enough to work).

It is a fascinating and important story, held back only by too much time spent on the insufferably boring details of the work of political commissions, and on describing each man’s whiskers.

Massive national infrastructure projects were to the second half of the 19th century what AI is to the world today.

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This book is wonderfully written and narrated. It's a terrific description of the history, politics, personalities and construction of the canal.

Outstanding

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Too much into little details that lead it to be boring at times. Some information was good, but others were not worth my time

Long winded

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