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| Author: David Mccullough
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  121 reviews
Sales Rank: 69075
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 704
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.7
ASIN: B000B8953O
Publication Date: October 15, 1978
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Condition: Brand new! Beautiful! May have small remainder mark (ink mark) along edge, gift quality, crisp, multiple copies available, great book, fast shipping, excellent service.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Path Between the Seas February 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Path Between The Seas : The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
I have just started reading this book. I'm most interested in the first part of the book so that I can better understand why the canal was built since I will be cruising through it in March.
The Path Between the Seas February 8, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Packed with political intrigue, engineering dreams, disaster, disease, death,deception, dynamite, determination, daring, decision making, and final dominence over jungle, mud, mosquitoes, rock, rain, and river to open the gateway between oceans for all the world....And it is all fully researched history.
A must read for visitors to the Panama Canal!
History as a Business Aid January 7, 2008
I fully expected to enjoy reading McCullough's historical overview because I liked his style in 1776 and other books.
What was unexpected was the story's value as a business book, too.
McCullough uses frequent mentions of actual companies and brands to remind us of the important contributions of the private sector in this engineering innovation.
From Chapter 1
Stowed below on the "Guard" was the finest array of modern instruments yet assembled for such an undertaking--engineers' transits, spirit levels, gradienters, surveyors' compasses and chains, delicate pocket aneroid barometers, mercurial mountain barometers, current meters--all "for prosecuting the work vigorously and scientifically." (The Stackpole transits, made by the New York firm of Stackpole & Sons, had their telescope axis mounted in double cone bearings, for example, which gave the instrument greater rigidity than older models, and the introduction of a simplified horizontal graduation reading allowed for faster readings and less chance of error.)
In the midst of appreciating the construction highs and lows, he also sheds revealing light on the level of ineptitude, malfeasance, and amazingly blatant lies told to early investors. Clearly, the vision was large and the leaders charismatic in selling it. But the headline from THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 22, 1892 shows the collapse to be on a scale of Enron in its day:
A BIG FRENCH SCANDAL
AFFAIRS OF THE PANAMA CANAL COMPANY TO BE EXAMINED. -
-- TURBULENT SCENE IN THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
-- DELAHAYE'S SWEEPING CHARGES OF BRIBERY
-- SENATORS, DEPUTIES, MINISTERS, FINANCIERS, AND EDITORS ACCUSED.
Historically his best; entertaining not so good. October 28, 2007
I've always enjoyed the books of David McCullough: Truman, The Johnstown Flood, and The Great Bridge. But none of them prepared me for this experience. McCullough has outdone himself here. Actually the topic has driven him to this higher level. The building of the Panama Canal is an extremely complex story, and McCullough includes every twist, turn, challenge, and triumph in his story telling. Sometimes it seems like way too much detail. Almost every character, and there are hundreds, are physically described in detail, from the cut of their clothes to the style of the facial hair. We're told the numbers on the door of their hotel rooms, the names of the ships they travel in, the number of bolts used, the tons of cement poured, the billions of francs and dollars expended. This long book covers it all. Sometimes it's pretty slow going. But it never bogged down to a point where I closed the book and put it away. Instead, I slogged on through the mud, the jungles, the malaria and yellow fever, the mosquitoes, and the political intrigues. And there are a host of the latter, from the initial French undertaking, to the U.S. takeover of the project, to the debates on the best spot to locate the canal, to the gunboat diplomacy of President Teddy Roosevelt which irreparably tainted America's reputation in Central and Southern America. There are some terrific photographs of the experience included, and two maps. Unfortunately, the latter could have been better with more detail. It's impossible to determine the final route of the canal from either map. Also, a map showing the relationship of Central America to the rest of the hemisphere would have been very helpful. I ended up reading this book with an Atlas at hand. Further, a list of the participants with a brief thumbnail sketch would have been helpful, because of the large cast involved. After reading this book, you will know everything you want to know about this amazing achievement, and probably a lot more, too. McCullough is a master at what he does, and in The Path Between the Seas he has achieved his historical masterpiece, although a tad short on the enjoyment factor.
 Great book about an amazing story October 19, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed the history of the canal especially the way it is presented
in this book.
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