Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time--The Building of the Panama Canal

466 Pages·2007·4.38 MB·English

by  Parker Matthew

Acclaim for Matthew Parker's
“Well-told… A clear and readable account of a tremendous story.”
—The Seattle Times
“Engrossing, sometimes alarming… The characters colorful and unexpected.”
—The Star-Ledger (Newark)
“A readable, almost plain, yet thoroughly amazing account.”
—New York Post
“A fascinating account … highly readable and enjoyable.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“[A] monumental, assiduously researched work… A gripping narrative that never lets go of your lapels… Panoramic
in its geographic, scientific and political scope, and focusing closely on the sensitive social and labor issues, Panama
Fever is a marvelously comprehensive work about an epic engineering triumph.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Parker fluidly narrates the frustrations of the French effort that ended in failure… Parker achieves a fine history,
complete in both technological and human dimensions.”
—Booklist
“[An] engrossing narrative. … A well-researched and satisfying account of imperial vision and social inequity.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Also by Matthew Parker
Monte Cassino
The Battle of Britain
Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker is the author of The Battle of Britain
and Monte Cassino. He lives in London.
www.matthewparker.co.uk

In loving memory of Roger Durman
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PREFACE: THE BATTLE TO BUILD THE CANAL
THE GOLDEN ISTHMUS
“The Keys to the Universe”
CHAPTER ONE
Rivalry and Stalemate
CHAPTER TWO
Gold Rush
CHAPTER THREE
“A Natural Culminating Point”
CHAPTER FOUR
The Competing Routes
CHAPTER FIVE
THE FRENCH TRAGEDY
“Le Grand Français”
CHAPTER SIX
The Fatal Decision
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Riches of France
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Travail Commencé”
CHAPTER NINE
Fever
CHAPTER TEN
Jules Dingler
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Annus Horribilis
CHAPTER TWELVE
Collapse and Scandal
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE AMERICAN TRIUMPH
Heroes and Villains—The “Battle of the Routes”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“I Took the Isthmus”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Make the Dirt Fly”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Yellow Jack
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Restart
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Railroad Era
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Digging Machine
CHAPTER TWENTY
Segregation
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“The Army of Panama”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Hell's Gorge”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Lord How Piercing!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Land Divided, The World United
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Whose Canal Is It, Anyway?
POSTSCRIPT
NOTES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ILLUSTRATIONS
Insert One
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (from History of the Panama Canal by Ira E.
Bennett, Washington, 1915)
William Paterson (Mary Evans Picture Library)
Mapping the route for the Panama Railroad (Mary Evans Picture Library)
Members of the American Selfridge expedition (from The Land Di-videdby
Gerstle Mack, New York, 1944)
Armand Reclus (from Panama: Armand Reclus et le Canal des Deux
Océans by Gérard Fauconnier, Paris, 2004)
Ferdinand de Lesseps cartoon (Plon/Perrin)
Ferdinand de Lesseps with family (Getty Images)
Triumphal arch (Getty Images)
Charles de Lesseps (from Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and
Resurrection by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914)
Colón Harbor (from Panama and the Canal in Pictures and Prose by J.
Willis Abbot, New York and London, 1913)
The beginning of the “big ditch” (from The Panama Canal [Building
History Series] by Tim McNeese, Chicago, 1997)
Jules Dingler (from Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection
by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914)
The execution of Pedro Prestan (Panama Canal Company)
A French ladder excavator (Corbis)
Philippe Bunau-Varilla (from Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and
Resurrection by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914)
Bottle Alley in Colón (from Panama and the Canal in Pictures and Prose
by J. Willis Abbot, New York and London, 1913)