“The creation of a water passage across Panama was one of the supreme human achievements of all time…no statistics on tonnage or tolls can convey the grandeur of what was accomplished. It is a work of civilization.” - from Chapter 21, Triumph

McCullough does an excellent job of detailing the political and technical obstacles met and overcome to construct the canal. The work has inspired me in my own career as a civil engineer.

Everything you'd ever want to know about the building of the Panama Canal, (as long as you are not interested in the science or engineering - as noted in my "Wright Brothers" review, McCollough's books focus on the history and especially politics ) from the French years until the opening of the canal.
I completed this a few days before transiting the isthmus with my wife. The book made the trip extra special

To say this book is thorough is an understatement. This obviously took a lot of time to research and most of the information contained within has been extracted from that research.

However at it's core it is a tale of adventure against what seemed to be Insurmountable odds. However, every one likes a challenge and after the French were defeated in their attempt, the good old USA stepped up and finished the job.

A great tale about this project if you can work your way through the minutia contained therein

The book was slow to start, with the initial chapters focusing on the geography and climate of the various Central American routes under consideration. But once the story got going, it was no less a potboiler than a Bollywood movie. Truly, reality is crazier than fiction.
The idea of creating a sea passage across the Central American Isthmus to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans had been around for nearly 400 years, starting with Spain’s efforts to identify a route in early 1500s. Numerous attempts were made to survey potential routes, but they were always beaten back by the treacherous terrain, climate and disease.
The American gold rush in California was the catalyst for yet another serious effort to find a path across the isthmus. This led to the creation of the Panama railroad. It helped fortune hunters reach the Wild West from northern and eastern America by ship with the railroad acting as the bridge between the shipping passages across Atlantic and Pacific oceans; the alternative being a long and expensive trip by land across the width of America.
The idea of a canal was brought to life by the French visionary behind the Suez Canal. Fresh off the success of building a canal at Suez, Ferdinand de Lesseps turned his attention to Panama. A man of great charisma, he was the sole reason this fantastic effort even saw the day of light. He was brilliant in capturing the imagination of all of France and raising the capital to get the work started. De Lesseps’s is also cautionary tale, where single minded bull headedness can lead to one turning a blind eye to rationale and well thought out suggestions from others. De Lesseps got the Panama Canal started but it crashed in spectacular fashion in a tale of amazing scandal, financial mismanagement and corruption that shock the French economy and political landscape to the foundations.
The American takeover of the Panama Canal almost never happened. It is so amazing to think that one of the greatest engineering achievements of mankind would not have existed, but for so many fortuitous events and chance occurrences. The Panama revolution and secession from Colombia supported by America very nearly failed at various points; the sale of Panama Canal operations by France to America very nearly did not go through; Panama prevailed over Nicaragua in the American Congress by just 3 votes as the preferred route - a stunning reversal engineered by incredible lobbying and a lot of luck. But it did happen and the Panama Canal did get made.
It took nearly 10 years for American engineers to complete the canal from when they took over in 1904. The construction of the Panama Canal is also the story of amazing medical progress to emerge victorious over yellow fever and malaria that had run rampage over the years of French construction; it is the story of incredible administrative and organizational management to run this massive enterprise. But above all, it is still the story of an engineering marvel with no parallel in human history at the time.
The Panama Canal embodies the triumph of the human spirit against all odds and at a tremendous cost (upwards of 650 million in 1900s dollars and over 25,000 lives across French and American eras). The Panama Canal is not just a critical part of the maritime shipping industry today, but a key component of the global economy. Millions of tons of goods and material passes through the canal every month. The story behind the Panama Canal is an amazing one and worth reading.

A riveting window into another era...French first and then American. An audacious dream and a stunning feat. Personalities, politics, science...timing. Tragedy, failures and stupendous success.

We will be visiting the Panama Canal next month. It will be a far richer experience having read this beautifully written history.

When one considers our present epoch, it is easy to transpose what is "possible" today on an earlier era. But that would be a mistake, because what is possible now simply may not have been possible 100 years ago. In fact, many things that are possible now were not possible 5 years ago. Given this transpositional thinking it would be easy to underestimate the mammoth technological accomplishment of building the Panama Canal. In "The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914" David McCullough describes in detail the challenge of building the canal across the Isthmus of Panama and he paints a beautiful picture of the various facets involved in this mammoth undertaking.

This book is about the building of the canal. But one cannot separate the construction from the technology, the geography, the personalities, the politics, the human condition--from examples of greatness down the the depths of the deplorable--McCullough covers it all in a memorable and easy-to-read fashion.

To place this project in perspective, it would be difficult today. So when one considers the building of the canal over 100 years ago, the accomplishment is even more stark by comparison. This book is a history, but it is also biography and and sociology, and also part thriller. McCullough weaves the threads together using excellent historical method combined with a master's pen. The result is a book, and an accomplishment, that should amaze you--indeed, will amaze you whenever you think about it. And think about it you should. Happy reading!

It takes a lot of slogging through statistics to read this book, which is what you expect from David McCollough. At times the story gets mired in a lot of detail that I'll never remember. However, I did enjoy the book and what I learned that I think I'll keep. My biggest criticism is the lack of maps. What I learned:

1. The French were the first to attempt a canal across the isthmus in Central America. This was due to the unflagging zeal of Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was instrumental in the building of Suiz canal. The company failed, but did build a railway across the isthmus, which was later a factor in the United States decision to select the same route.
2. What is now panama was a part of Columbia, and uncharted jungle.
3. Medical science did not know what caused the deadly yellow fever. But several dedicated doctors and scientists determined that there are three types of mosquitos, and only one is responsible for the spread of the fever.
4. Some in the United States congress and other influential people, namely Theodore Roosevelt, favored a canal route through Nicaragua. (See why I wanted more maps!).
5. Many people, some not even directly connected with the canal project influenced the Panamanian overthrow of the Columbian government and formed a new government of Panama. The U.S. government was implicated in that junta, partly by presence of warships off the coast.
6. The scope of the task is incomprehensible for me. The canal made and broke many who were instrumental in the building--and I mean physically, mentally and emotionally.
7. No one knows how many died in either attempt, though in the U.S. period, some statistics were kept. Yellow Fever was somewhat controlled, yet hundreds still died from that, malaria and accidents.

What I didn't learn that I want to know is the story behind the U.S. relinquishing control of the Canal in the 1990s. I'll need to read further on that, but suspicion it has something to do with reparations. But if the U.S. hadn't built it, who knows when or what country would even try.

Well if you've read this far, congrats. This is mostly for me to organize my thoughts. But I don't advise this book if you aren't an avid history reader.

Not worth the time investment unless really into history of great building projects.

100+ characters and focus on the back office swindling being the major downsides.

David McCullough is one of my favorite authors, however, a book on the Panama Canal wasn't something I was really interested in until I found the book some years later at a used book sale and decided to give it a try. Like many Americans my only knowledge of the Panama Canal was what I read in the textbooks--the United States built the Canal after curing yellow fever. That is such an oversimplified viewpoint that it is almost untrue. It was pretty surprising to find out that the French had originally started the canal and failed because of funding and a firm belief in an open water canal rather than a lock system, that the United States had wanted to build a canal in Nicaragua, that we didn't really cure yellow fever but did bring sanitation methods into the area which got rid of the mosquitoes, that most of the dirty work of building the canal was done by blacks from the Caribbean, and that they were treated abysmally--well, maybe that's not a huge surprise but it doesn't make it less awful--and that's just the start. This huge project was bigger than anything ever attempted up to that time, it was the first major project to use electricity and as luck would have it, the constant interest in the canal ended on the day it opened because of a "minor" event in Europe called World War 1.

My only criticism of the book is that the first few chapters of the book about the French involvement with the canal and the machinations within the US Congress to choose either the Nicaraguan route or the Panama route were extremely long. I could have done with a few less pages of information about these two subjects.

Oh, yeah and I forgot the part about the US getting involved in Columbian and Panamanian politics--maybe our first attempt at changing governments that don't suit us!

Overall it's a fascinating story about a mechanical system that moves ships from one ocean to another that we all take for granted and definitely shouldn't. It was an event that fascinated the world, and rightly so, for over 40 years.

Stupendous book. Only David McCullough can make me interested in reading about construction projects LOL, because as is his writing mantra, he made the narration of its history about the people. Getting to know the different personalities and idiosyncrasies and genius of the makers of the Canal was just plain fun! These were men with infinite will and verve, whether they had a shovel in their hand, or penning legislation, making medical discoveries, crafting arguments, drumming up financial support or capturing the public's interest.

The Panama Canal is a manmade marvel of engineering, of which thousands of people hung their hopes and dreams, though some hopes would be dashed. A project as momentous as this can't not be politicized, and whether it be in the hands of the French or Colombians, or the Americans, the outcome would have been the same: whoever owns the Canal holds the power and control. McCullough included a succinct section of the fallout between Colombia (a stand-in for South America, really) and the U.S., the ripples of which we still feel today. Fact of the matter is, Roosevelt wanted what he wanted, without compromise, and through his "big stick" philosophy, got exactly that. Such is human nature, death is necessary for life. With that comes violence, bullying. America was stronger, so it could bully. Don't doubt for a minute other countries wouldn't do the same to us if we were weaker. While it left a bad taste in my mouth, it doesn't take away from the immense value and need of the Canal, and all the progress made not just engineering wise, but within the ancillary services (discoveries and inventions in medical and utilities industries and social work etc.). Did the Panama Canal facilitate a "land divided, world united"? I don't know, but at least now, it's easier to travel.

Here is yet another masterful book by David McCullough. To be honest, I knew close to nothing about the Panama Canal before starting, nor was I particularly interested in it. But this book forms a kind of trilogy with McCullough’s books on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Wright Brothers—which I had greatly enjoyed—so I felt compelled to pick it up.
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Even though McCullough has 600 pages, he is quite pressed for space and time, as he has to tell the story both of the French’s failed venture and the Americans’ successful one. In terms of the amount of money spent, the manpower needed, the technological challenges, and even the casualties, the project was more akin to fighting a war than anything else. And like many wars, a great deal of human folly was involved.

The French were defeated by the isthmus. The brilliant but hubristic Ferdinand de Lesseps, full of confidence after completing the Suez Canal, doomed this venture with his insistence that they build a canal of the same type—one at sea-level, with no locks. It is a tragic story, beginning with grandiose dreams, involving many unnecessary deaths, and ending with lots of people bankrupt and several in prison.
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The Americans scarcely had an easier time. There was a major challenge at virtually every stage. First, there was the political challenge of getting Congress to back the canal project, which meant agreeing where to put it. (A sizable contingency wanted to make the canal in Nicaragua.) There was the other political challenge of getting Colombia (which controlled the isthmus at that time) to agree to the venture. This was effected by fomenting a revolution and helping to create a new, more amenable, country: the Republic of Panama.
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An enormous challenge was illness. Counting the French and the American years, over 25,000 workers died during the building of the canal. When the Americans came in, scientists and doctors had only recently discovered that mosquitos could transmit disease—yellow fever and malaria, specifically—something that many laypeople still refused to believe. And Panama was very rich in mosquitoes. Herculean effort was thus spent by the Americans in fumigating, clearing brush, and eliminating standing water, which substantially reduced fatalities.

There was, of course, the engineering challenge, requiring millions of tons of soil to be removed, gargantuan locks to be built, and the largest dam (Gatun Dam) in the world to be constructed, which would in turn create the world’s largest artificial lake. But the biggest problem of all was logistical—coordinating the massive workforce, providing housing, food, and medical care, procuring the many types of supplies, and keeping the work on track. Many otherwise capable people failed at this task. As much as anything, then, this is a book about leadership styles.
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McCullough manages to describe all of this, making a potentially dry and unwieldly story into something compelling and dramatic. Not bad for a book about digging a big trench.

Probably no one writes more complete – and exhaustive – histories than David McCullough. In “The Path Between the Seas,” one of his earlier works (1977), McCullough guides you through the political, financial, and engineering intricacies of building the Panama Canal, a modern wonder of the world. It’s a fascinating read, especially if you enjoy history, politics and geography. The opening of the canal – and control – allowed the United States to maintain a two-ocean navy, and provide security for some of the important sea lanes affecting world commerce. Taking nearly fifty years to build, at the turn of the twentieth century it was the largest, costliest single effort ever mounted anywhere on earth. Thank Teddy Roosevelt for completing the project; thank Jimmy Carter for giving it away.