If you go to college far away from where you grew up, you quickly realize that some things you thought were universal are clearly not.
For example, I thought everyone knew the Erie Canal song. Shockingly, people who did not grow up in central NY were not privy to this lyrical masterpiece.
Growing up in upstate NY, especially in Syracuse, where the main drag is Erie Boulevard, site of the old Erie Canal paved over, you learn that the Erie Canal was hugely important in connecting the then frontier with the coast and its ports (along with several class field trips to the Erie Canal museum and on boat trips on the parts of the existing Erie Canal so you can see how locks work).
I recently read Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation by Peter Bernstein which is all about the history and impact of the Erie Canal. It's a pretty quick read (I was able to read it in a day during which my power was off), well-written, and interesting. Bernstein is an economist so he pays particular attention to the economic impact of the canal, which is not the kind of thing we ever learned in elementary school. It also inspired me to mosey on over to Amazon and order his other book: Against the Odds: the Remarkable Story of Risk. Can hardly wait.
Anyways, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical or economic non-fiction. I don't think most people outside of CNY-ers know much about the Erie Canal and it's a really interesting story, from an engineering perspective as well as an economic/political one.
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