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Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time-- the Building of the Panama Canal
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List Price: $29.95Price: $12.64 You Save: $17.31 (58%)
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 972.87503
Fabric Type: 9780385515344
Fax Number: 1
Legal Disclaimer: 0385515340
Maximum Color Depth: Doubleday
Metal Type: Doubleday
Publisher: 1
Region Code: 560
Total External Bays Free: March 18, 2008
Total Firewire Ports: Doubleday
Total Parallel Ports: March 18, 2008
Doubleday
Features:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A thrilling tale of exploration, conquest, money, politics, and medicine
The Panama Canal was the costliest undertaking in human history. It literally required moving mountains, breaking the back of the great range that connects North and South America. Begun by the French in 1880, its successful completion in 1914 by the Americans marked the end of the Victorian Age and the beginning of the “American Century.”
The building of the Panama Canal was a project whose gestation spanned hundreds of years. Columbus himself searched for a way to get to the Pacific across the narrow isthmus of Central America. For centuries, monarchs, presidents, businessmen, and explorers all struggled to find such a passage, knowing that whoever controlled it would exert unsurpassed control over global trade, and therefore the fate of nations.
The first history of this mighty achievement in nearly thirty years, Panama Fever draws on diaries, memoirs, letters, and other contemporary accounts, bringing the experience of those who built the canal vividly to life. The massive project riveted public attention: “Panama Fever” spread throughout the Western world. Politicians and businessmen engaged in high-stakes international diplomacy in order to influence its location, path, ownership, and construction. Meanwhile, ditch-diggers, machinists, drivers, engineers, and foremen from all over the world rushed to take advantage of high wages and the chance to be a part of history.
But the grim reality of Panama – searing heat, torrential rains, fatal mud slides, and malarial mosquitoes – soon caught up with them. More than 25,000 of those who enthusiastically signed on as workers succumbed to dysentery, yellow fever, and malaria, giving a fatal twist to the meaning of “Panama Fever.” The truly horrific toll unleashed a second race to find a cure so the canal could be completed. The discoveries of the heroic doctors who battled these diseases would lead to a sea change in the way infectious diseases were treated, thus paving the way for the tremendous medical advances of the twentieth century.
Filled with remarkable characters, including Teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant, and Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French genius who built the Suez Canal and almost snatched Panama out from under American control, Panama Fever is an epic historical adventure that shows how a small but fiercely contested strip of land in a largely unknown Central American nation suddenly made the world a smaller place and launched the era of American global dominance.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I'm not a history buff, BUT this book is a wonderful history of how the Panama Canal came to be going back to the 1500's. We are taking a cruise through the canal, the history of it's construction will give me a very different view of it's development. Also visited the Roosevelt Dam in AZ this week, so interesting to see these massive engineering projects similarity. The disease issues were particularly surprising to me.
Rating: -
In this brilliant historical epic that rivals and in some ways exceeds David McCullough's mighty tome, The Path Between the Seas, from the author of The Battle of Britain and Monte Cassino, Matthew Parker tells a tale that will not be ready lightly in Panama Fever. For those looking for a quick, short story about how the Panama Canal got built, turn away now. For those wanting to know how much back-breaking labor, how many lives were lost, how many companies and families were bankrupted, and how ... Read More
Rating: -
I read this book while cruising the panama canal. It was a great accompaniment to the trip and really made me more appreciative to my surroundings. More interesting than a travel guide and more in detail than a pamphlet, I really recommend this book for travelers wanting to learn more about their locales while wanting to be entertained as well.
Rating:  -
This book goes in to great detail on the 'prehistory' of the canal. The competing European and American plans and interests are well covered, as is the French canal building experience. The initial American experience (and the reptition of many French mistakes) is also well covered. Then in a few words, 5-10 years pass by and the canal is open and operating. It feels that the author ran out of time and sent the book out with only the executive summary of the last 10 chapters. Thus we know, in fairly ... Read More
Rating: -
Fascinating and illuminating! Having lived in the Canal Zone through my Junior High and Senior High years I was enthralled with the historical facts and how close we were to the actual opening of the Canal. We moved there in 1940. Well written and easy to read. Good job!
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