Panama Fever The Epic Story of the Building of the Panama Canal

I almost gave this book a three star review but held off because it was just the narrator of the audiobook brining the rating down. I am very thankful to be listening to a different audiobook now with a much better narrator. (A British accent usually solves everything.) This narrator also stopped, cleared his throat and backtracked to the beginning of the sentence before continuing. That probably has more to say about the editing director than the narrator but still. I also have to admit that when I first started listening to this audiobook I was rather distracted and did not hear much of the foundational text. (Thus another reason that I am giving it the benefit of the doubt.) Additionally, I had to stop comparing this book to McCullough's (which I still think is better) before I could write a decent review. This author spent a lot of time on the social and cultural aspect of building the bridge which was absolutely fascinating. It did verge just a bit on the macabre with the descriptions of the death and distraction from disease and work-place accidents. The author clearly did his research, a whole bunch by the looks/"listens" of each chapter. He definitely knows his stuff. While he takes his time and sometimes too much gets included on the page, I definitely recommend this book.