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

This book is a heady mix of contemporary history, geography, technology and mind blowing biography.The fact that the canal had such illustrious preceding history (Suez), spanning not just continents and competing foreign policy, but also similar gargantuan human endeavour, it becomes incumbent upon the author to walk the reader through a lot of Suez history as well. This affords the reader a very useful context, which helps is deeply appreciating the scale of the endeavour that was Panama Canal.One constantly finds oneself opening up the map, to be reminded of the geographical layout, which is key to the entire plot. This, in itself, is highly educational. For example - it may remind you that the thin sliver of land connecting the continents of North America and South America is home to so many countries. Where you might have previously gone, ‘ah - Mexico’ - you will now know that it has - Gautemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and, of course, the protagonists, Nicaragua and Panama.Should someone come from that Project Management background, or be interested in that field, this book is such a delight (for the things done well) and annoyance, all at the same time. For example, there can be no better illustration of outlandish optimism bias, than what was on display when the French mounted their audacious attempt to build the canal.Diseases (specially Yellow Fever) were one of the constant challenges faced by the project. The reader comes face to face with the reality of what Yellow Fever meant during those days. There were no other options, other than getting a grip on, and taming this ravaging malady, if the canal was ever to come to fruition. The approach of the medical fraternity, the painstaking analysis of the problem, leading to smart prevention approach, is something for which alone this book could be read, even if you don't care for the canal. To read this book, while living through the pandemic of COVID, made the whole experience alive and vivid.While reading the book, and learning about the challenges that were faced in various stages before and during the build - one cannot but admire the ingenious solutions that were devised by the smart people working on the project; while, at the same time thinking of how the modern technology would have made a short work of it.The author does a superb job of describing the personalities and the favourable (and detrimental) traits they brought on to the roles they played in the building of the canal.CONSI do think that the author, was not able to weed out a lot of material (which he could have done easily), in order to keep the story a tad more linear. Having said that, the reader is left in supreme awe of the scale of research that must have been carried out, in order to write this book.

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.

This book arrived todayI am seriously contemplating returning it.I paid more to get the hardcover and thought it would be a book I would have for ever.The book almost looks second hand.The pages look like they have been cut with a wood saw.I have never seen even an inexpensive book with such poor quality production.The attached photos do not show how poor the pages have been cut, you would be embarrassed to give it as a gift.I think I have talked myself into returning it.

This book gives a complete history of the Panama Canal, from the political, economical, medical and personal triumphs and heart breaks. It starts from the original surveys and ends with the completion of the project. It provides great insight to the problems faced during the construction and the political intrigue to build the canal from the French who failed and the Americans who completed the project.If you like history I strongly recommend this book. Great book to read before going to visit the canal.

This is a great book about the Panama Canal. It was written in 1977 and still holds up very well. I didn't know much about the Panama Canal and learned a lot. It tells the story of all the planning (USA, France) to attempt a canal through Central America. There were three main plans---possibly through a narrow area of Mexico, an area through Nicaragua, or through Panama. The USA's main plan being through Nicaragua. The French got the jump on the USA with the guiding force of Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was already very famous as the man who got the Suez Canal built. Ferdinand wanted his French company to build 51 miles through the isthmus of Panama and he wanted a sea level canal (no locks). He got approval. To make a long story short, Ferdinand got in way over his head with his French company totally underestimating the scale of the attempted project. The jungle heat and the rainy seasons, massive amounts of deaths from malaria and yellow fever destroyed morale. The unbelievably hard attempt to excavate a 9 mile area cut through the mountains (Culebra Cut) totally frustrated them. The French struggled from approximately 1880 - 1889 before the company went bankrupt. There wasn't much progress until the USA bought out the French stake in the project and started construction in 1904. It was completed by 1914 and had to be completed with locks at both ends and an elevation of 85 feet.I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of all the major players involved. I had no idea about all the politics involved--shady deals and backstabbing. The book brings all the people involved to life where you feel like you know them. Ferdinand de Lesseps was a very interesting man to learn about. Another extremely interesting person was Philippe Bunau-Varilla and all his behind the scenes wheeling and dealing. William Nelson Cromwell was another interesting character. When the USA took over, it was very interesting to learn about Dr William Gorgas, who struggled to get the big bosses to understand that mosquitoes were causing all the malaria and yellow fever deaths. One of my favorite chapters was the one about all the intrigue and backdoor politics that was involved with Panama's breaking away from Columbia, which Panama was a part of at the time. The book has many, many good pictures of the people involved and pictures of the excavation and construction. I can't emphasize enough what a big undertaking the Panama Canal was ... much, much harder than the Suez Canal.