“Many errors and defects may be found, but the book gives much out-of-the-way information.”
| − + | Spec. 97: 260. F. 16, ’07. 150w. |
Johnson, Willis Fletcher. Four centuries of the Panama canal; with maps and illustrations. **$3. Holt.
6–42401.
“The design of Spanish adventures in the fifteenth century is being fulfilled by American engineers in the twentieth.” So says Mr. Johnson, and he deals with the incidents and circumstances leading from Columbus to Roosevelt. His aim is to give the “salient and essential features of the ‘story,’ with as little as possible of detailed description of the Isthmian country, of its conditions of resources, soil, climate, people, of the technical features of the canal and its auxiliary work.”
“The book shows its newspaper origin by such glaring inaccuracies as those referred to above, by the fact that it comes quite down to the date of publication, by its newspaper English, and by its readability. It is interesting reading, and we need for easy consultation such an account of the origin and progress of the Panama republic and its relations with the United States.” J. Russell Smith.
| + − | Am. Hist. R. 12: 684. Ap. ’07. 880w. | |
| A. L. A. Bkl. 3: 148. My. ’07. |
“In dealing with the technical features the author has been led into several errors. Some result from his bias in favour of a sea-level canal, which he makes no effort to conceal. These errors, however, are not of great importance, and do not detract in great degree from the merits of the book. It is but just to say that on the whole the work is very creditable and will form a useful addition to the library of any student of Isthmian canal affairs.” Peter C. Hains.
| + + − | Ann. Am. Acad. 29: 429. Mr. ’07. 700w. |