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

McCullough is just one of those writers who can write about nearly anything and make it interesting. "The Path Between the Seas" is no exception. I didn't really have an interest in the Panama Canal when I bought the book, but I like his work and I thought I would give it a chance. I'm glad I did because it really reads fast and is full of excitement and drama. The books starts out with the failure of the French attempt to build the Canal and then moves into the American period and the successful completion of the Canal in 1914. All the while you read about the scandals, the dangers, the diseases, the tragedies and the triumphs. The book takes you from medicine to politics to revolution and science. Just realize that this is a history book and not an engineering one! There is not a lot of technical detail here, although the last chapter explains quite thoroughly how the locks were assembled. Rather it is the human side of the story. Also, it is the human aspect of the building of the canal, and not an exploration of life in the canal zone, although there is a chapter on that towards the end. It would have been nice to include more first-hand experiences of the average man there (though he says this is just not possible when it comes to the black workers); the book still absorbs the reader in the daily travails of building the canal.The Panama Canal was an important accomplishment in American history and a forgotten one. I would highly recommend reading this book. You will not be disappointed!

The building of the Panama Canal, in my opinion, is the singlemost incredible human effort in history, more important than landing a man on the moon. It surely cost more lives. The men who mighthily struggled to see the Canal built are worth your time and attention; Ferdinand and Charles de Lesseps, William Gorgas, Philippe Buneau-Varilla and John Stevens are only an handfull of people whose efforts are to be cherished and remembered. Even if the French effort is more interesting, it sadly ended in scandal. However, the lessons served the Americans well; they did not repeat those errors first, and second, the 10 years or so hiatus between the two tries saw a tremendous progress in the engeneering field, as well as in the electrical domain, both which greatly helped the Canal being completed. Make no mistake, the Canal story isn't only one of engeneering, or a battle against nature's wrath, it's also a lesson in corruption, in politics, in society. I'm sure glad I read McCullough work, I feel enriched by it.

Excelente relato de la creación del Canal de Panamá. Un libro repleto de datos y sólidamente documentado, a pesar de lo cual se lee como una novela de aventuras.

El libro es muy bueno, la cuestión fue con la entrega llegó maltratado de la pasta

Informative and very readable