About this item

The technological marvel of its age, the Erie Canal grew out of a sudden fit of inspiration. Proponents didn't just dream; they built a 360-mile waterway entirely by hand and largely through wilderness. As excitement crackled down its length, the canal became the scene of the most striking outburst of imagination in American history. Zealots invented new religions and new modes of living. The Erie Canal made New York the financial capital of America and brought the modern world crashing into the frontier. Men and women saw God face to face, gained and lost fortunes, and reveled in a period of intense spiritual creativity. Heaven's Ditch by Jack Kelly illuminates the spiritual and political upheavals along this "psychic highway" from its opening in 1825 through 1844. "Wage slave" Sam Patch became America's first celebrity daredevil. William Miller envisioned the apocalypse. Farm boy Joseph Smith gave birth to Mormonism, a new and distinctly American religion. Along the way, the reader encounters America's very first "crime of the century," a treasure hunt, searing acts of violence, a visionary cross-dresser, and a panoply of fanatics, mystics, and hoaxers. A page-turning narrative, Heaven's Ditch offers an excitingly fresh look at a heady, foundational moment in American history.



About the Author

Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly is an award-winning author and historian. His new book "VALCOUR: The 1776 Campaign That Saved the Cause of Liberty" tells the neglected story of one of the most critical and suspense-filled campaigns of the Revolutionary War. That summer, patriots knew they had to stop an enemy invasion from Canada by any means necessary. Their success meant they would continue to fight for another year, setting up their breakthrough victory at Saratoga. Kelly's "BAND OF GIANTS: The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America's Independence" received the DAR History Medal. He is also the author of "THE EDGE OF ANARCHY," an account of the Pullman Strike of 1894; "HEAVEN'S DITCH", a cultural history of the Erie Canal; and "GUNPOWDER," an account of man's first explosive. He has published five novels, and is a New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in Nonfiction Literature. He lives and works in New York's Hudson Valley.



Read Next Recommendation

Report incorrect product information.