![]() It was a canal that truly bridged a century-a ridiculously apt endeavor to usher in the 1900s, where science and technology would reign supreme.Ī large part of why the canal took forty-five years to complete is that it literally had to wait for technology to catch up to the goal. This riveting story subtly delineates the dawn of a new age of globalism: France began the canal, the United States finished it, and Panama now controls it. The Path Between the Seas shows that, truly, nothing is ever created in a vacuum. In McCullough’s deft hands, we learn that it’s impossible to separate the Panama Canal from its chronology. McCullough details the building of the canal with a keen eye to the world surrounding it, setting the scene not only in Panama, but in the context of so many important historical events: the technological achievements and advancements that bred the Suez Canal and the Eiffel Tower the mysterious, debilitating diseases of malaria and yellow fever and the fights for independence of several Central American countries. ![]() These seven hundred pages span four decades, several countries, and more larger-than-life personalities than should ever be allowed in one book. Think I’m exaggerating? Take a look at David McCullough’s masterful account of this financial catastrophe/marvel of engineering (really, I think it was both), The Path Between the Seas. ![]() Happy 100th birthday, Panama Canal! You totally should not exist. ![]()
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