What is the Panama Canal? -- From the Atlantic to the Pacific -- A railroad built on corpses -- A canal? -- The French try their hand -- The United States steps in -- War! -- Killing mosquitoes -- A man with a plan -- Finishing the job -- Success! -- The Canal today

"Before 1914, traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast meant going by land across the entire United States. To go by sea involved a long journey around South America and north along the Pacific Coast. But then, in a dangerous and amazing feat of engineering, a 48-mile-long channel was dug through Panama, creating the worlds most famous shortcut: the Panama Canal!"--Amazon.com