Realizing the century-old dream of a passage to India, the building of the Panama Canal was an engineering feat of colossal dimensions, a construction site filled not only with mud and water but with interpretations, meanings, and social visions. Alexander Missal’s Seaway to the Future unfolds a cultural history of the Panama Canal project, revealed in the texts and images of the era’s policymakers and commentators. Observing its creation, journalists, travel writers, and officials interpreted the Canal and its environs as a perfect society under an efficient, authoritarian management featuring innovations in technology, work, health, and consumption. For their middle-class audience in the United States, the writers depicted a foreign yet familiar place, a showcase for the future—images reinforced in the exhibits of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition that celebrated the Canal’s completion. Through these depictions, the building of the Panama Canal became a powerful symbol in a broader search for order as Americans looked to the modern age with both anxiety and anticipation. Like most utopian visions, this one aspired to perfection at the price of exclusion. Overlooking the West Indian laborers who built the Canal, its admirers praised the white elite that supervised and administered it. Inspired by the masculine ideal personified by President Theodore Roosevelt, writers depicted the Canal Zone as an emphatically male enterprise and Chief Engineer George W. Goethals as the emblem of a new type of social leader, the engineer-soldier, the benevolent despot. Examining these and other images of the Panama Canal project, Seaway to the Future shows how they reflected popular attitudes toward an evolving modern world and, no less important, helped shape those perceptions. Best Books for Regional Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Association “Provide[s] a useful vantage on the world bequeathed to us by the forces that set out to put America astride the globe nearly a century ago.”—Chris Rasmussen, Bookforum

The pursuit of success can drive people to endlessly seek outside acceptance. Raises and praise from employers and social peer groups may be a sign of prosperity and progress but should not be mistaken for genuine achievement. According to Sheryl Towers, the founder of Life Enrichment Skills, only that which contributes to a person's overall happiness and enthusiasm can be considered true success. By using the metaphor of seeds blossoming into life, Towers adds a depth and personalization that transcends the standard step-by-step self-improvement guide. Through seventeen basic principles, or seeds, such as honesty, integrity, and faith, Towers lays the groundwork for a life of fulfillment. Each tenet, when cultivated and practiced, can enhance a person's sense of self and help them prepare a better future. Her view is a combination of realism and optimism. Seeking true success, she admits, can take time, patience, and resolve. As someone who has risen above negative conditioning to live by her own terms, Towers provides firm encouragement to support the reader through their journey. Words of wisdom from respected intellectuals, sports figures, and business executives combine with inspirational stories to guide those who wish to add true value to every aspect of their lives.

Pratiyogita Darpan (monthly magazine) is India's largest read General Knowledge and Current Affairs Magazine. Pratiyogita Darpan (English monthly magazine) is known for quality content on General Knowledge and Current Affairs. Topics ranging from national and international news/ issues, personality development, interviews of examination toppers, articles/ write-up on topics like career, economy, history, public administration, geography, polity, social, environment, scientific, legal etc, solved papers of various examinations, Essay and debate contest, Quiz and knowledge testing features are covered every month in this magazine.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.