NOT JUST ANOTHER ISTHMUS STORY
(fredericksburg.com) "PANAMA FEVER" is a giant story, telling the tale of the "golden isthmus," from the early search for a passage to the East to the completion of the Panama Canal.
The book is divided into three sections. The first, "The Golden Isthmus," includes surprising information about an ill-fated Scottish attempt at a trans-isthmus highway in the late 1600s, the busy railroad traffic across the isthmus in the western gold-rush days and designs by several European nations during the "canal age" of the early 1800s.
The second segment is titled "The French Tragedy," and it is indeed a sad story. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the brilliant mind behind the Suez Canal, celebrated in his time as the greatest living Frenchman, boldly took on the Panama project and kept it afloat more than 20 years by his energy and blind optimism. The French attempt to build a canal was an utter failure, brought down by tens of thousands of deaths from yellow fever, malaria, accidents and other tropical ailments; impenetrable rock, mudslides, mighty rivers; snakes, tarantulas and all manner of jungle pestilence; torrential rain and debilitating heat; and graft, bribery, corruption and labor disputes. Surprisingly, the entire French effort was undertaken by private subscribers and never was backed by government funds.
In the third section, "The American Triumph," Parker relates how other nations wanted to build a canal, but only the Americans had the resources and perseverance to actually make it happen.
Even before Theodore Roosevelt's confidence in expansion and his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, the need for a maritime highway was recognized. Parker guides the reader through a labyrinthian tangle of events that ultimately led to a revolution in Panama against Colombia, instant U.S. recognition of the new Panamanian government, and a hastily ratified treaty and canal pact.
After several fitful starts beginning in 1904, the digging finally began and progress was steady, although the Americans were plagued by the same problems that had bedeviled and defeated the French.
Especially disturbing are the details of the rigid American apartheid system that treated white workers completely differently from workers of color.
The opening of the canal in 1914 was a triumph of American engineering, an incredible accomplishment even by today's construction standards. This is an excellent, carefully researched book that tells a truly fantastic story.
