Tarissa's Reviews > Panama 1914 - The Early Years of the Big Dig: The early years of the Big Dig

A fantastic, historic look at how the Panama Canal was built. Ken Rossignol has pieced together newspaper editorials and a plethora of articles on the subject of the canal, dating back several years before 1914, to when the original plans, arguments, and questions first arose about making a slice through land, disconnecting two continents forever...

"An interoceanic canal was recommended as the only means of connection of the oceans that could adequately meet the future demands of commerce."
- Panama 1914

I love how the book covers the full story of the Panama Canal -- from the financial, governmental and legal angles, to the gritty, humanized angles about local issues -- disease (yellow fever, malaria), food supplies -- and how who got chosen to be hired as canal workers. Plus there's a lot of good photos alongside the documents to help you better visualize what it was like building the canal over a hundred years ago.

The way that Rossignol doesn't write about the history, but shares the history itself with you is a unique approach; it makes the reader feel like they're getting to research and discover history from its original form, directly from the eyes of the people who lived it! It's a good read!

And for a history book, the ending nabbed me. It set me into a fit of laughter -- just you wait.