NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Zachary Karabell, author of Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal, about the dream to build a waterway that would unite the East and the West.

Zachary Karabell wrote the book "Parting The Desert: The Creation Of The Suez Canal," and he joins us from Wyoming. Welcome. ZACHARY KARABELL: Thank you, Ari. SHAPIRO: The canal opened in 1869.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Zachary Karabell, author of Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal, about the dream to build a waterway that would unite the East and the West.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Zachary Karabell, author of Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal, about the dream to build a waterway that would unite the East and the West.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Zachary Karabell, author of Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal, about the dream to build a waterway that would unite the East and the West.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Zachary Karabell, author of Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal, about the dream to build a waterway that would unite the East and the West.

This is the situation facing global trade when the giant container ship Ever Given lost control in the southern end of the Suez Canal early Tuesday morning.

Rerouted Suez mariners face an old threat: ‘the Graveyard of Ships.’ In pictures: The history of the canal. Why the internet loves the Suez Canal stuck ship saga.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Zachary Karabell, author of Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal, about the dream to build a waterway that would unite the East and the West.