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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

Author: Matthew Parker
Publisher: Doubleday
Cloth $29.95 (530 P.)
ISBN: 9780385515344
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Reviewed by Marcia A. Lusted, Statusing

Like most people, my knowledge of the Panama Canal is vague at best, limited to a general idea of where it is located and the fact that the United States ultimately "gave it back" to Panama. After reading Matthew Parker's book, however, I have a new appreciation both for the canal and the incredible struggle involved in constructing this massive waterway.

The story of the Panama Canal is long and convoluted, and the time it took from the initial idea of constructing a canal to its actual completion spanned hundreds of years. The idea of the canal was a political one: the country who owned the canal controlled a vital waterway for trade as well as military superiority. The first serious attempt at constructing the canal was made by the French beginning in 1880, but the terrible conditions of the area-yellow fever and malaria killed thousands of workers, and mud slides, unusual geology, and poor site surveying made progress difficult-eventually doomed the result to failure. In the end it would be the Americans who stepped in and successfully built the canal, almost starting from scratch. They managed to control the epidemics that killed so many of the canal workers by controlling the mosquito population (at a time when the idea of insects spreading illness was considered laughable by many noted scientists and doctors). The medical side of the story, and how the discoveries made at the canal site would ultimately benefit all of mankind, were some of the most interesting pages of the book. The Americans also came up with a more workable plan for the canal route than the route the French had attempted. However, it was no easy job, and by the time the canal was finished in 1914, it had taken its toll of lives as well as making and breaking the careers of many of the men who worked on the project.

Parker's book is very interesting and readable, and even if the politics get a bit heavy at times, they are integral to the story of the canal. The inclusion of the stories of the many individuals who lived, worked, and died at the canal site, as well as the larger than life figures, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Ferdinand de Lesseps, who populated the canal project, make the narrative vivid and engaging. It is a comprehensive look at the construction of a waterway through a tiny strip of South America that would one day have a huge impact on the world.