Pushkin+ Exclusive: The Great Frenchman's Folly (Panama Disaster 1)

To listen to this series and receive access to other benefits like ad-free episodes, exclusive content and early access, sign up for Pushkin+ on our Apple show page or at pushkin.fm. Ferdinand De Lesseps, "the Great Frenchman", is convinced that he is the man to build the Panama Canal. No, he isn't an engineer and, no, he's never actually been to Panama before. But he managed to dig the Suez Canal, and everyone said that would be impossible too. How hard can it be? For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.