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Dates Covered: 1870 - 1914
ISBN: 0671244094
HH Rating: 
Our Take
Sweeping in its scope, McCullough’s work starts with Balboa's mired Spanish colony in east Panama and plows forward through four hundred more years of history (though, curiously, he omits the capture of Balboa’s colony by Francis Drake. We guess, in the end, it didn’t matter much) to the completion of the canal proper. He dances deftly around complicated issues such as the bond scheme the French used to finance their effort and its collapse, and gives the U.S. Army’s fight against yellow fever and malaria excellent treatment. Vivid descriptions abound, and McCullough put in an extraordinary amount of effort seeking journals and firsthand accounts to liven up an already tremendously exciting work. It reads like a novel; you'll be sucked right in. How can you not like a guy who notices when somebody makes "yet another journey in record time" by figuring 400 miles on horseback through mountains and wilderness ought to take forever, rather than just 11 days? Read More at Amazon.com
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