Panama Canal - a very good book about the construction of the canal

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I am currently listening to an audio book, titled, The Path Between The Seas, by David McCullough.

It is a very interesting book about the construction of the Panama Canal, that provides a short-cut  for ships, to go from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific ocean and visa-versa.

Before the Panama Canal was built, ships had to sail all the way down and around South America, to get from one ocean to the other.

The construction of the canal was started in the 1890's by a French company, that sold shares to the public, in order to raise money for the construction.
Unfortunately there was a lot of promotion and hype being dished out, to keep selling more shares, even though very little progress was being made with the construction.
Also the mosquito borne Yellow plaque was killing off the workers, by the thousands.
The French  company eventually went bankrupt and all the French people lost their investment money.

The US then took up the canal construction later in the early 1900's and finished the work by 1914.
The US also had problems and it was very interesting to find out all the background intrigue that was involved, to get the canal finished.
The technology of the equipment and construction techniques had advanced just enough by the time the US began construction, that made a big difference in getting the canal completed.

The audiobook and ebook is a free download from the public library.

Bill