About this title: Popular historian David McCullough tells the story of the building of the Panama Canal, which connected the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. He relates the engineering, the politics, and the human drama. THE PATH BETWEEN THE SEAS won a National Book Award in history.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Francis Parkman Prize ed
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: History Book Club by arrangement with Simon and Schuster
Date Published: 1/1/2002
ISBN-13:9780965385909ISBN:0965385906
Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best Prices. read more
Description: Good. Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best Prices. read more
Description: Good. 0739478575 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780671244095ISBN:0671244094
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. clean pages cover show some wear out, fast shipping delivery with confirmation number. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 704 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. standard shipping only. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC)
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York, New York
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780671225636ISBN:0671225634
Description: Acceptable in Acceptable jacket. Edgewear to dj. Book is slightly cocked. read more
Edition: Edition Unstated
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone Books, Old Tappan, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780671244095ISBN:0671244094
Description: Very Good- As issued No Jacket. Slight spine lean, corner bump, s edgewear to the lowear edge of front cover, and other light shopwear. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 1978-10-15
ISBN-13:9780671244095ISBN:0671244094
Description: Good. Cover different than shown; Minor shelf wear; Minor bumping and wear to corners and spine ends; Faint spine creases; Tanning and soiling to page edges; Mild rubbing and wear to covers and spine; Spine minorly tanned; Tanning to back cover edges; Yellowing to back cover; Mild corner crease on covers; Good Reading Copy; ** Free USPS tracking and confirm on US orders ** read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780671225636ISBN:0671225634
Description: Good to Good Plus in Good Minus jacket. Book is slightly warped. Unmarked pages in sound binding. Cover boards are in pretty nice shape. Outside page edges have foxing. DJ has a good deal of edge tearing. read more
"As a resource for complete historical information on the panama canal, there is no better book. D. McCullough is an expert researcher who brings together facts to create a compelling story from a little known era of American history. I would give this book 5 stars for historical value and require that libraries have a copy, if I could. But compared to other historical books it is tedious and so indepth as to make it laborious for the casual reader. I am an armchair historian and read what appeals to me, and FOR ME, this book was way too detailed and not focused enough. That's why I ended up giving it 2 stars."
"Something very strange happens about 30% through "Path Between the Seas." For the first 1/3 of the book, the reader must trudge through pedantic descriptions of very trivial matters and a hodgepodge of boring discussions on all things nautical. Then, all of a sudden McCullough does something amazing: he reminds you that people- everyday ordinary people -really cared about the Panama Canal, what it could do and what it would mean. And when it nearly failed, even though we are talking about people who have been dead upwards of 70 years, you feel bad for them.
Its that empathy that is a true gift in this book.
APBtS is the story of three nations: a nation on the decline (France) a nation on the rise (the United States, and the land (Columbia/Panama) they had in common where there paths intersected so geometrically.
The story begins in the 1860s as France celebrates the completion of the Suez canal. It then is destroyed- almost literally -in a war with Germany. After its crushing, psyche-changing defeat, France decides to continue the war not on the field of battle (where it would have been destroyed again) but in the great works of the world- the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Suez Canal and finally the Panama Canal.
The French engage in a long struggle to bridge the gap between the oceans, and this stirs up a great sense of national pride that the lost war rendered silent before. Suddenly, men and women invest heavily in major corporations to get the canal built, for progress, and for France!
But as the book illustrates, France is not what it once was; they misjudge almost everything about the project- the time, the cost, the distance, even the route and how the canal will look. In time, France is entangled in one of the most celebrated failures in history.
But as the book points out, this is unfair. Yes, the French only built about 1/3 of the canal, but when the Americans did take over in 1903, the materials, buildings and work they had left was extremely well done. In fact, the author almost goes so far as to saty that had the French not done such a good job on the first 1/3, its possible the canal would never have been built.
Its here that the books truest strength lies: when describing how all the average investors in France took the news of the loss- there was basically crying in the streets and the market tanked because of France's despondency over its failure. It really was like Sedan all over again. You feel for these people- the struggled mightily and almost did the impossible. Yet at the same time, it clearly illustrated the illusory strength and resolve of France at this time. France was a nation on the decline and its inability to rationalize the Panama Canal, execute the plans, and face its challenges were all signs of a faltering people.
Enter the United States. Fresh off its one-sided thumping of Spain in the Spanish American War, the US was as energetic and bombastic as its "bully" President, Theodore Roosevelt. A nation on the rise, the US has men, supplies and an economy ready to tackle any problem, including building a canal for its own purposes.
The US not only decides to take over the canal project, but almost as an after-thought, helps stir up a rebellion in Columbia so that the nation known as Panama rebels and forms its own government. Thus, the US has a friendly ally to welcome their intervention and build the canal.
The book does a solid job describing the people, both the named principals and the relatively faceless masses of men who dug the canal. The book describes how the diseases of Yellow Fever and Malaria were tamed in Panama, and how these diseases were so feared.
The book culminates with the US sitting astride the two Oceans and doing a job many said could not be done. The first boat crossed the full length of the canal on August 3, 1914. On that same day, the United States was informed that Germany had declared War on France, thus starting World War I, and the ultimate "beginning of the end" for the old European powers.
The book has enormous slow points, including the monotonous descriptions of some mechanical processes that will bore i even the most ardent minutia fan. The book also spends too much time describing some of the more mundane travels and tribulations of some of the major players, which is not time well spent.
Still, PBtS makes you care about all these people and the true engineering marvel they created, how vast the area was, how immovable the obstacles were, and how great their accomplishment was."
"Well, everyone ought to learn the story of the Panama Canal, one of the most incredible engineering achievements of all time, but this book just drags on too long and with too much treatment of some of the major characters involved instead of the canal building itself to keep you anxiously engaged. I suppose that's to be expected in an in-depth treatment of such a subject, but a book with half the number of pages and ten times the number of pictures would have been sufficient for my simple mind to learn most of what I'd want to know about the Canal.
I do wish I'd read the book years ago before I took a train from one end of the canal to the other and back while serving as a missionary in Panama. I would have appreciated the marvel much more and many of the sites in the book would have been able to come to life. I do remember how odd it was to see a big ship sticking up out of the jungle."
"I picked this one up on a lark. I've read other books by McCullough and like him. I was at an all-day Science Olympiad event for two of my kids where they sequestered us in a classroom at Butler University while we waited for our kids. Our classroom had a bunch of books lying around, including this one. I started reading it and then checked it out from the library so I could finish it.
The book drags in many parts, but I learned a lot about the canal. I never knew that it began as a French project that was a miserable failure. Years later, the Americans (Roosevelt) picked it up. This was a BIG project!"
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