Matthew parker panama fevr the epic story o nal (v5 0)

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, scienti c 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 uidly narrates the frustrations of the French e ort 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 CHAPTER ONE “The Keys to the Universe” Rivalry and Stalemate CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR Gold Rush “A Natural Culminating Point” CHAPTER FIVE The Competing Routes THE FRENCH TRAGEDY CHAPTER SIX Le Grand Franỗais CHAPTER SEVEN The Fatal Decision CHAPTER EIGHT The Riches of France CHAPTER NINE “Travail Commencé” CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN Fever Jules Dingler Annus Horribilis Collapse and Scandal THE AMERICAN TRIUMPH CHAPTER FOURTEEN Heroes and Villains—The “Battle of the Routes” CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN “I Took the Isthmus” “Make the Dirt Fly” CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Yellow Jack CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY The Railroad Era The Digging Machine Segregation CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO “The Army of Panama” CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE POSTSCRIPT Restart “Hell's Gorge” “Lord How Piercing!” The Land Divided, The World United Whose Canal Is It, Anyway? 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, Resurrection by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914) Destruction, and Bottle Alley in Colón (from Panama and the Canal in Pictures and Prose by J Willis Abbot, New York and London, 1913) Huerne, Slaven & Co dredges at work (from From Cadiz to Cathay by Miles Duval, Stanford, 1940) Works in the Culebra Cut (from Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, New York, 1914) ... 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... as a soldier of the few great wars of the world's history This is one of the great works of the world —President Theodore Roosevelt to the American canal workforce, 1906 Every year, on the anniversary... of the opening of the Panama Canal on August 14, 1914, there is a special celebration A small motor launch takes a group of about twenty- ve on a short boat ride from a dock near the top of the