Mark S. Ferrara tells the stories of the ordinary people who lived worked, and died along the banks of the Canal, emphasizing the forgotten role of the poor and working class, the European immigrants, the orphan children who drove draft animals that pulled the boats around the clock. He also shows how the Canal served as a conduit for the movement of new ideas and religions, a corridor for enslaved people seeking freedom via the Underground Railway, and a spur for social reform movements.
