Floating West: The Erie and Other American Canals

by Russell Bourne

Discusses the history and technology of the Erie Canal, examines some of the famous and infamous people involved with its construction, describes how other canals were built as a result of its success, and discusses how "Great Western" opened up the west

232 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Russell Bourne began his career as a writer-editor on LIFE Magazine in 1950. Career interrupted by the Korean War, he operated as a Special Agent in the US Army’s Counter-Intelligence Corps in Berlin until 1953. He then returned to Time, Inc and served as Henry Luce’s assistant at Time-Life Books and went on to run several publishing departments for American Heritage, National Geographic and Smithsonian. In the 1980s, he began creating books on his own and published about a dozen works, mostly on American History and Transportation, while also writing poetry. His poems have been published in reviews and journals across the country. He was a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. For many years his habit has been to spend summers in Maine and winters in the Finger Lakes.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly history books are no longer written like this. Full of wonderful photographs, maps and diagrams to illustrate the history of canals. Wonderful, delightful... Please don't judge this book by its age, it is a delight! Thank you library for keeping this in the collection!

[Danice · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book.