Author(s): Matthew Parker

History

The heroic dream of building a Panama canal spans four centuries, but ends, in the late nineteenth century with one of history's great engineering disasters, followed, at the beginning of the next century by one of its greatest triumphs. In appalling working conditions, tens of thousands perished fighting the jungle, swamps and mountains of Panama, a rate of attrition comparable to many great battles. "Panama Fever" starts as a tale of European Victorian confidence and hubris and culminates in America's ruthless achievement in joining the Pacific and Atlantic oceans - as it moves forward to dominate the twentieth century. Matthew Parker's narrative traces the fierce geo-political struggle behind the heroic dream of the canal, the immense medical and engineering battles that were fought and the scandal and intrigue the canal project always attracted. It is a story of politics, finance, press manipulation and secret diplomacy at the highest levels, populated by a dazzling cast of idealists and bullies, heroes and conmen.