My dad is a civil engineer who enjoys reading the odd popular history book. I want to get him something on the Erie Canal, but I haven't been able to tell if there's anything good out there. He'd be especially interested in a volume that had a lot of maps, technical explanations, etc. Any recommendations? If you know of a good book in that wheelhouse on a different topic I'd be happy to hear about that, too.
I read a book for a history class called: The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862. Definitely more of a history book as opposed to an engineering book on how the canal was built, but definitely worth the read to realize the impact the canal had on society at the time
Wedding of the Waters by Bernstein is quite good. A civil engineer might really enjoy the account of the debate over if there would be an actual canal, with no shortcuts diverting traffic to rivers, etc.. This was an easier argument to make because that had been tried with the Potomac Canal, and it didn't work- the river was often too dry in the summer, too high and rough in the spring, frozen in the winter, and boats couldn't travel. There's also a book on that, The Potomac Canal, by Robert Kapsch. It's also quite good, and has lots of detail, illustrations, ledger excerpts, etc. but the Erie has a more fun narrative.