Why read The Artificial River?

Book cover of The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862

Book description

The story of the Eric Canal is the story of industrial and economic progress between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The Artificial River reveals the human dimension of the story of the Erie Canal. Carol Sheriff's extensive, innovative archival research shows the varied responses of ordinary people-farmers,…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Artificial River as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Carolyn Eastman

Author

The Artificial River is so well-written, and features so many surprising and illuminating insights about early America, that I have assigned it many times in undergraduate classes. Sheriff speaks trenchantly about the concept of progress that inspired—and continues to inspire—so many of us. Yet by looking at how that concept played out over the course of the building of the Erie Canal, one of the most massive public works projects of the early Republic, she also shows the ways that Americans’ views of the common good were transformed. In a series of brilliantly executed chapters, Sheriff demonstrates the extent to…

From Carolyn's list on the surprising world of the early American Republic.