Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation

The Erie Canal: A Riveting Story of American Ingenuity Experience the epic account of how one narrow ribbon of water forever changed the course of American history.

This best-selling book recounts the creation of the Erie Canal within the larger tableau of a youthful America in the first quarter-century of the 1800s.

Follow the journey of leaders who recognized the Appalachian mountain range as an insurmountable obstacle to uniting the Atlantic states with the vast lands of the west.

Gripped by the same fever that had driven explorers such as Hudson and Champlain, a motley assortment of politicians, surveyors, and would-be engineers set out to build a complex structure of a type few of them had ever actually seen, let alone built or operated: a manmade waterway cut through the mountains to traverse the 363 miles between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. By linking the seas to the interior and the interior to the seas, these pioneers ultimately connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.

Bernstein examines the social ramifications, political squabbles, and economic risks and returns of this mammoth project.

Discover how the canal's creation helped bind the western settlers in the new lands to their fellow Americans in the original colonies, knitting the sinews of the American nation together like never before. Don't miss out on this captivating tale of American ingenuity and the making of a nation.

Order your copy of The Erie Canal today!