Many Voices

“A social his­to­ry for young peo­ple that seeks to explain the com­plex inter­play of polit­i­cal, tech­no­log­i­cal, cul­tur­al, and eco­nom­ic forces that cul­mi­nat­ed in the cre­ation of the Erie Canal. The canal con­nect­ing the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes opened in 1825 after almost a decade of con­struc­tion and a cost of $7,000,000 ($185 mil­lion in today’s terms). Lawlor sit­u­ates the canal in the geopo­lit­i­cal and social fac­tors that con­tributed to its devel­op­ment, reveals the extra­or­di­nary costs in human, nat­ur­al, and tech­no­log­i­cal resources that made the 363 mile-long water­way a real­i­ty, and illus­trates the far-rang­ing reper­cus­sions that the canal has had on indi­vid­ual lives and on Amer­i­can soci­ety over the last 200 years. Her nar­ra­tive stays true to the goal encap­su­lat­ed in the title, that of cen­ter­ing the voic­es of the many Indige­nous, enslaved, and immi­grant peo­ples who expe­ri­enced pro­found loss and change from this mar­vel of engi­neer­ing and eco­nom­ic progress. The final chap­ters give some con­sid­er­a­tion to the eco­log­i­cal impli­ca­tions of the canal and the indus­tri­al­iza­tion that sprang up in the wake of its cre­ation. An exten­sive bib­li­og­ra­phy for fur­ther read­ing rounds out the nar­ra­tive, as well as source notes, a ­glos­sary, a time line, and an index. VERDICT This sto­ry of one of the most ­piv­otal engi­neer­ing accom­plish­ments in U.S. his­to­ry, told from diverse per­spec­tives, is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed for mid­dle and high school ­col­lec­tions. (Kel­ly Kingrey-Edwards, School Library Jour­nal, starred review)