On December 31, 1999, after nearly a century of rule, the United States officially ceded ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama. That nation did not exist when, in the mid-19th century, Europeans first began to explore the possibilities of creating a link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the narrow but mountainous isthmus; Panama was then a remote and overlooked part of Colombia.

All that changed, writes David McCullough in his magisterial history of the Canal, in 1848, when prospectors struck gold in California. A wave of fortune seekers descended on Panama from Europe and the eastern United States, seeking quick passage on California-bound ships in the Pacific, and the Panama Railroad, built to serve that traffic, was soon the highest-priced stock listed on the New York Exchange. 

To build a 51-mile-long ship canal to replace that railroad seemed an easy matter to some investors. But, as McCullough notes, the construction project came to involve the efforts of thousands of workers from many nations over four decades; eventually those workers, laboring in oppressive heat in a vast malarial swamp, removed enough soil and rock to build a pyramid a mile high. In the early years, they toiled under the direction of French entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps, who went bankrupt while pursuing his dream of extending France's empire in the Americas. 

The United States then entered the picture, with President Theodore Roosevelt orchestrating the purchase of the canal—but not before helping foment a revolution that removed Panama from Colombian rule and placed it squarely in the American camp.

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

Le Carré's Panama—the young country of 2.5 million souls which, on December 31, 1999, will gain full control of the Panama Canal—is a Casablanca without heroes, a hotbed of drugs, laundered money and corruption.Seldom has the weight of global politics descended so heavily on such a tiny and unprepared nation. And seldom has the hidden eye of British Intelligence selected such an unlikely champion as Harry Pendel—a charmer, a dreamer, an evader, a fabulist and presiding genius of the house of Pendel &amp; Braithwaite Co. Limitada, Tailors to Royalty, formerly of London and presently of Panama City.Yet there is a logic to the spies' choice. Everybody who is anybody in Central America passes through Pendel's doors. He dresses politicos and crooks and conmen. His fitting room hears more confidences than a priest's confessional. And when Harry Pendel doesn't hear things "as such"—well, he hears them anyway, by other means.For what is a tailor for, if not to disduise reality with appearance? What is truth if not the plaything of the artist? And what are spies and politicians and journalists if not themselves selectors and manipulators of the truth for their own ends?In a thrilling, hilarious novel, le Carré has provided us with a satire about the fate of truth in modern times. Once again, he has effortlessly expanded the borders of the spy story to bring us a magnificent entertainment straight out of the pages of tomorrow's history.JOHN LE CARRÉ was born in 1931. After attending the universities of Bern and Oxford, he taught at Eton and spent five years in the British Foreign Service. His third novel, "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold", secured him a worldwide reputation, which was solidified by the acclaim for his trilogy, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy" and "Smiley's People". His mostly autobiographical novel, "A Perfect Spy", wa followed by "The Russia House, The Night Manager" and "Our Game". "The Tailor of Panama" is his sixteenth novel.John le Carré lives in Cornwall, England.

The Tailor of Panama

"Panama Fever" traces a heroic dream that spanned four centuries: to build a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.The human cost was immense: in appalling working conditions and amid epidemics of fever, tens of thousands perished fighting the jungle, swamps and mountains of Panama, a scale of attrition comparable to many great battles.

This is a remarkable book about empire and technology. Starting as a story of European Victorian confidence and hubris, it develops, via one of history's greatest engineering disasters, into an account of America's ruthless triumph over vast obstacles as it moves forward to dominate the twentieth century.

Matthew Parker explores the fierce geo-political struggle behind the heroic vision of the canal, and the immense engineering and medical battles that were fought. But he also weaves in the stories of the ordinary men and women who worked on the canal, to evoke everyday life on the construction and depict the battle on the ground deep in 'Hell's Gorge'. Using diaries, memoirs, contemporary newspapers and previously unseen private letters, he draws a vivid picture of the heart-breaking struggle on the Isthmus, in particular that of the British West Indians who made up the majority of the canal workforce.

"Panama Fever" is a tale of politics, finance, press manipulation, scandal and intrigue, populated by a dazzling cast of idealists and bullies, heroes and conmen. But it is also a moving tribute to the 'Forgotten Silvermen', so many of whom died to fulfil the centuries-old canal dream.

Panama Fever: The Epic Story of the Building of the Panama Canal

A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist takes us inside the world revealed by the Panama Papers, a landscape of illicit money, political corruption, and fraud on a global scale. 

A hidden circulatory system flows beneath the surface of global finance, carrying trillions of dollars from drug trafficking, tax evasion, bribery, and other illegal enterprises. This network masks the identities of the individuals who benefit from these activities, aided by bankers, lawyers, and auditors who get paid to look the other way.

In "Secrecy World", the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter Jake Bernstein explores this shadow economy and how it evolved, drawing on millions of leaked documents from the files of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca--a trove now known as the Panama Papers--as well as other journalistic and government investigations. Bernstein shows how shell companies operate, how they allow the superwealthy and celebrities to escape taxes, and how they provide cover for illicit activities on a massive scale by crime bosses and corrupt politicians across the globe.

Bernstein traveled to the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and within the United States to uncover how these strands fit together--who is involved, how they operate, and the real-world impact. He recounts how Mossack Fonseca was exposed and what lies ahead for the corporations, banks, law firms, individuals, and governments that are implicated.

"Secrecy World" offers a disturbing and sobering view of how the world really works and raises critical questions about financial and legal institutions we may once have trusted.

Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite

A groundbreaking history of the Panama Canal offers a revelatory workers-eye view of the momentous undertaking and shows how it launched the American century

The Panama Canal has long been celebrated as a triumph of American engineering and technology. In "The Canal Builders", Julie Greene reveals that this emphasis obscures a far more remarkable element of the canal's construction: the tens of thousands of workingmen and -women who traveled from around the world to build it. Drawing on research from around the globe, Greene explores the human dimensions of the Panama Canal story, revealing how it transformed perceptions of American empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

For a project that would secure America's position as a leading player on the world stage, the Panama Canal had controversial beginnings. When President Theodore Roosevelt seized rights to a stretch of Panama soon after the country gained its independence, many Americans saw it as an act of scandalous land-grabbing. Yet Roosevelt believed the canal could profoundly strengthen American military and commercial power while appearing to be a benevolent project for the benefit of the world.

But first it had to be built. From 1904 to 1914, in one of the greatest labor mobilizations ever, working people traveled to Panama from all over the globe - from farms and industrial towns in the United States, sugarcane plantations in the West Indies, and rocky fields in Spain and Italy. When they arrived, they faced harsh and inequitable conditions: labor unions were forbidden, workers were paid differently based on their race and nationality - with the most dangerous jobs falling to West Indians, and anyone not contributing to the project could be deported. Yet Greene reveals how canal workers and their families managed to resist government demands for efficiency at all costs, forcing many officials to revise their policies.

"The Canal Builders" recounts how the Panama Canal emerged as a positive symbol of American power and became a critical early step towards twentieth-century globalization. Yet by chronicling the contributions of canal workers from all over the world, Julie Greene also reminds us of the human dimensions of a project more commonly remembered for its engineering triumphs.

The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal

With the drama of detective fiction, "How Wall Street Created a Nation" illustrates how a combination of financial gain and arrogant American imperialism culminated in the building of the Panama Canal. Ovidio Diaz Espino has artfully pieced together the tale of a dark alliance of greed between the bankrupt French Panama Canal Company and a secret syndicate of Wall Street financiers. With the full force of Teddy Roosevelt's Wall Street cabal and his gunboat diplomacy behind it, there was no stopping the canal project despite the objections of the American Congress and press. Espino brings a combination of financial acumen, historical expertise, and Latin American sensibility to this book.

How Wall Street Created a Nation: J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal

"Emperors in the Jungle" is an exposé of key episodes in the military involvement of the United States in Panama. Investigative journalism at its best, this book reveals how U.S. ideas about taming tropical jungles and people, combined with commercial and military objectives, shaped more than a century of intervention and environmental engineering in a small, strategically located nation. Whether uncovering the U.S. Army’s decades-long program of chemical weapons tests in Panama or recounting the invasion in December 1989 which was the U.S. military’s "twentieth "intervention in Panama since 1856, John Lindsay-Poland vividly portrays the extent and costs of U.S. involvement.Analyzing new evidence gathered through interviews, archival research, and Freedom of Information Act requests, Lindsay-Poland discloses the hidden history of U.S.–Panama relations, including the human and environmental toll of the massive canal building project from 1904 to 1914. In stunning detail he describes secret chemical weapons tests—of toxins including nerve agent and Agent Orange—as well as plans developed in the 1960s to use nuclear blasts to create a second canal in Panama.

He chronicles sustained efforts by Panamanians and international environmental groups to hold the United States responsible for the disposal of the tens of thousands of explosives it left undetonated on the land it turned over to Panama in 1999. In the context of a relationship increasingly driven by the U.S. antidrug campaigns, Lindsay-Poland reports on the myriad issues that surrounded Panama’s takeover of the canal in accordance with the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty, and he assesses the future prospects for the Panamanian people, land, and canal area. Bringing to light historical legacies unknown to most U.S. citizens or even to many Panamanians, "Emperors in the Jungle" is a major contribution toward a new, more open relationship between Panama and the United States.


Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama

The Panama Canal's untold history--from the Panamanian point of view. Sleuth and scholar Marixa Lasso recounts how the canal's American builders displaced 40,000 residents and erased entire towns in the guise of bringing modernity to the tropics.

The Panama Canal set a new course for the modern development of Central America. Cutting a convenient path from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, it hastened the currents of trade and migration that were already reshaping the Western hemisphere. Yet the waterway was built at considerable cost to a way of life that had characterized the region for centuries. In "Erased", Marixa Lasso recovers the history of the Panamanian cities and towns that once formed the backbone of the republic.

Drawing on vast and previously untapped archival sources and personal recollections, Lasso describes the canal's displacement of peasants, homeowners, and shop owners, and chronicles the destruction of a centuries-old commercial culture and environment. On completion of the canal, the United States engineered a tropical idyll to replace the lost cities and towns--a space miraculously cleansed of poverty, unemployment, and people--which served as a convenient backdrop to the manicured suburbs built exclusively for Americans. By restoring the sounds, sights, and stories of a world wiped clean by U.S. commerce and political ambition, Lasso compellingly pushes back against a triumphalist narrative that erases the contribution of Latin America to its own history.

Erased: The Untold Story of the Panama Canal

From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.

Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Little bear and little tiger live in a little house by the river. One day, a wonderful-smelling crate floats past them, with the word PANAMA written on it. Little bear and little tiger decide that Panama must be the land of their dreams, and set off on a quest to find it.

A touching story about learning to appreciate what you have.

“Janosch’s pictures of the adventurers have kindness as well as wit, reinforcing and extending the text.” —NBL Children’s Books of the Year

The Trip to Panama

One hundred years ago, the world celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, which connected the world’s two largest oceans and signaled America’s emergence as a global superpower. It was a miracle, this path of water where a mountain had stood—and creating a miracle is no easy thing. Thousands lost their lives, and those who survived worked under the harshest conditions for only a few silver coins a day.
      From the young "silver people" whose back-breaking labor built the Canal to the denizens of the endangered rainforest itself, this is the story of one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, as only Newbery Honor-winning author Margarita Engle could tell it.

Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal

Dear President Bush,
 My name is Kimberly Anne Muse. I am writing this letter not for me but for my father, Kurt Frederick Muse. As you should know by now, he is a political prisoner in Panama. . .. 

 Born in the United States and raised in Panama, Kurt Muse grew up with a deep love for his adopted country. But the crushing regime of General Manuel Noriega in the late 1980s threatened his, and a nation's, freedom. A nightmare of murder and unexplained disappearances compelled Kurt and a few trusted friends to begin a clandestine radio campaign, urging the people of Panama to rise up for their basic human rights. 

"Six Minutes to Freedom "is the remarkable tale of Kurt Muse's arrest and harrowing months of imprisonment; his eyewitness accounts of torture; and the plight of his family as they fled for their lives. It is also the heart-pounding account of the only American civilian ever rescued by the elite Delta Force. Timelier than ever, this is a thrilling and highly personal narrative about one man's courage and dedication to his beliefs. 

 "A cliffhanger drama of survival against all odds." --Jeffery Deaver

 "A dramatic portrayal of idealism, courage, integrity, and fortitude." --John Douglas and Mark Olshaker 

"A must-read for anyone interested in how Delta Force operates." --John Weisman 

"Harrowing, entertaining, inspiring, and very, very readable." --Col. Lee A. Van Arsdale, U.S. Army Special Forces (Ret) 

"A thrilling chronicle that puts a human face on unspeakable actions." --"Continental "magazine 

A Featured Alternate of the Military Book Club

Six Minutes To Freedom

'In August 1981 my bag was packed for my fifth visit to Panama when the news came to me over the telephone of the death of General Omar Torrijos Herrera, my friend and host. . . At that moment the idea came to me to write a short personal memoir. . . of a man I had grown to love over those five years' GETTING TO KNOW THE GENERAL is Graham Greene's account of a five-year personal involvement with Omar Torrijos, ruler of Panama from 1968-81 and Sergeant Chuchu, one of the few men in the National Guard whom the General trusted completely. It is a fascinating tribute to an inspirational politician in the vital period of his country's history, and to an unusual and enduring friendship.

Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement

The Hunt for the Golden Horse (The Riverdale Pony Stories, #7)

PANAMA 1914 IS NOW BOARDING!
Join this great voyage through the history of the Panama Canal, which is, one hundred years after its completion, on the eve of a new chapter in its spectacular history.
From the early explorers, many seeking a critical water connection between two of the world’s great oceans to the determination of the best engineers of America, the BIG DIG finally opened for shipping – you can be on board!
What stood in the way of making this canal a reality? 
Dense jungle, bottomless swamps, snakes and wild animals, endless mountain slides, vicious mosquito borne illnesses, hostile Indians, marauding pirates and buccaneers, and jealous colonial-era world powers, just to name a few.
The story of the Panama Canal is told in this book through the original news reports of the day along with great photos of the construction efforts, gripping illustrations and editorial cartoons that appeared in many publications. 
In addition, the detailed chronicles of veteran newspaperman Logan Marshall have been restored, edited and abridged by the author. The story told so well one hundred years ago has been newly enhanced, researched and the verbiage brought up to date. 
PANAMA 1914 provides the reader with a full understanding of the aborted tries, the competing routes, and the lambasting of President Teddy Roosevelt at the hands of the press as well as interesting anecdotes of history. 
For instance: learn about the practice of renting gravesites, much like today’s storage lockers. What happened when the relatives of the deceased failed to pay the rent? 
Scotland sent settlers to establish a colony at Panama. What happened? Of eight hundred Chinese workers who arrived to work on the canal and railroad, hundreds committed suicide and all of them either died or left, due to pestilence and turmoil. Why did hundreds of them fling themselves into the ocean?

A custom-made $40,000 Pullman car for a French canal company big shot was only part of the way the funds of investors were squandered in the failed effort that led to the takeover by the United States. What was the real cost to build this spectacular ditch?
What happened when the U. S. House of Representatives had to decide whether to build the canal through Panama or plan a trip through Lake Nicaragua? 
The desperate dash of the USS Oregon to travel the long distance from the west coast around South America to help defend the east coast from a Spanish Armada reportedly heading to attack! 
That episode helped push the decision to enable America to quickly move ships from one ocean to the other – with the construction of the Panama Canal.
Corruption, charges and counter-charges went on for many years after this: in March, 1899, Marshall wrote “Congress authorized the President to make an exhaustive investigation as to the most practicable and feasible Isthmian route for a canal that should be under the complete control of the United States and the absolute property of the nation”. 
A lobbyist stepped in and the key legislators learned about an explosive potential in one country which led to a decision being finally made to build the $375,000,000 water connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific. 
Step aboard the ship of history and don’t forget your mosquito netting. 
– Ken Rossignol

Panama 1914 (The early years of the Big Dig)

A People Who Would Not Kneel taps an unusual wealth of historical documents and native testimony to tell the extraordinary story of the Kuna struggle against outside domination during the first quarter of this century. James Howe illuminates the triangular relationship among a weak Panamanian government intent on creating a homogenous Hispanic culture; an Indian people who used the political methods of a national society to resist; and the hemisphere's dominant nation, a colonial power that had supposedly renounced colonialism. Vividly portraying the tenacious, outspoken individuals caught up in this struggle, he chronicles Kuna confrontations with black frontiersmen, foreign corporations, and competing Catholic and Protestant missionaries. The Kuna also contended with official campaigns to suppress traditional noserings and mola blouses and to impose schools, dance clubs, and modernity. In 1924 they turned to Richard Marsh, a North American explorer in search of a mythical tribe of white Indians. Marsh helped lead an armed revolt against Panama, which led to intervention by the United States and ultimately to a shipboard peace agreement that guaranteed the Kuna much of what they had fought for.

A People Who Would Not Kneel: Panama, the United States, and the San Blas Kuna


The Darien Gap, the only break in the Pan-American Highway, is a place of legend. In this almost impregnable strip of swamp, jungle, and cloud forest between the land masses of North and South America, stories of abduction and murder are rife. In recent years, more people have successfully climbed Everest than have crossed the Darien Gap. 
In 2000, Tom Hart Dyke, a young botanist, set off to Central America with one thing in mind: orchids. To find the rare and beautiful species he so fervently admired, he would have to visit some of the most inhospitable places on earth. At the same time, another young explorer, Paul Winder, was backpacking through the area. Though he sometimes worked freelance in the City of London, Paul was essentially a fearless traveler. Pure chance brought Paul and Tom together in northern Mexico; they formed an instant bond and their fate was sealed. 
Ignoring a final succinct warning from the" Lonely Planet guide--"Don't even think about it!"--Tom and Paul set off into the Darien, Tom in search of orchids, Paul in search of adventure. They would find plenty of each. For six days, they made good progress. Then, just hours away from Colombia, the dream ended and the horror began. Ambushed by FARC guerrillas, they were held hostage for the next nine months. From that day on, their survival was a matter of extraordinaryendurance, incredible ingenuity--and not a little good luck . . . 


The Cloud Garden: A True Story of Adventure, Survival, and Extreme Horticulture

An essential guide to building transformative movements to address the challenges of our time, from one of the country’s leading organizers and a co-creator of Black Lives Matter 
 
In 2013, Alicia Garza wrote what she called “a love letter to Black people” on Facebook, in the aftermath of the acquittal of the man who murdered seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. Garza wrote: 
 
"Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter." 
 
With the speed and networking capacities of social media, #BlackLivesMatter became the hashtag heard ’round the world. But Garza knew even then that hashtags don’t start movements—people do. 
 
Long before #BlackLivesMatter became a rallying cry for this generation, Garza had spent the better part of two decades learning and unlearning some hard lessons about organizing. The lessons she offers are different from the “rules for radicals” that animated earlier generations of activists, and diverge from the charismatic, patriarchal model of the American civil rights movement. She reflects instead on how making room amongst the woke for those who are still awakening can inspire and activate more people to fight for the world we all deserve. 
 
This is the story of one woman’s lessons through years of bringing people together to create change. Most of all, it is a new paradigm for change for a new generation of changemakers, from the mind and heart behind one of the most important movements of our time.

The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

In 1889 the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique declared bankruptcy. The French firm's optimistic and ill-planned attempt to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Panama had resulted in the death of 22,000 workers (most from yellow fever, typhoid fever, and malaria); the complete loss of one and a half billion francs for the company's 800,000 shareholders; and the bitter failure of Chief Engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps — the man responsible for the Suez Canal.
On August 15, 1914, the S.S. "Ancon" took nine hours and forty minutes to traverse the lock-and-lake waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. What occurred in the quarter century between 1889 and 1914 is a larger-than-life true story of adventure, revolution, ordeal, and accomplishment: the building of the Panama Canal — perhaps the greatest engineering marvel of the early twentieth century.
In 164 magnificent historic photographs and a well-researched text, noted photohistorian Ulrich Keller tells the compelling story of this hitherto unparalleled technological achievement. Selected from an archive of over 10,000 images amassed by Ernest Hallen (Official Photographer of the Isthmian Canal Commission), these historic prints document the Canal's construction and its way of life: 450 miles of railroad; housing for 60,000 based on a caste system; the exotic settings; tremendous hardships and health risks; leisure activities; the Canal Zone's internal government, administration and policing; dredging operations, including spectacular movements of earth and water; unheard-of engineering feats and disastrous failures; and finally, victory!
Photographers, historians, engineers, and tudents of industry and technology will immediately recognize this volume as an important primary source of industrial archaeology. Photography enthusiasts and lovers of true adventure will delight in the vibrant, you-are-there sensation imparted by the photos and Ulrich Keller's exceptionally informed text and meticulous captions. "The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs" takes the reader back to a different era, and one of the proudest episodes in what the author calls "the 'heroic' age of industry."

The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs

In 1964, Edwin and Jean Armbruster left their home in the United States to raise their family on the Panama Canal Zone, a little known American territory in the Central American country of Panama. In Canal Zone Daughter, Judy (Armbruster) Haisten chronicles her unique childhood culminating to the crushing loss when former President Jimmy Carter signs treaties that effectively eliminates her -and fellow U.S. citizens' -former home. Charming, funny, and poignant, the author captures her remarkable American story in an exotic place and time.

Canal Zone Daughter: An American Childhood in Panama

"Musicant has worked together a series of small histories of Western Hemisphere campaigns by America during the last 100 years. His is a wonderfully researched &amp; well-told history. He covers the various Cuban &amp; Haitian dramas; wars in Nicaragua &amp; Panama, plus the the Dominican Republic emergency &amp;, finally, the Grenada invasion. In every case there's an intial effort to explain the politics, followed by an accessible description of the campaign. It's a fine work that enables people to understand both the politics of Western Hemisphere intervention, plus the military realities."--Matherson (edited)
 "This excellent title describes in good detail the small wars that the US Marine Corps was involved in from 1898-1989 in the Caribbean. Musicant (a former Marine) weaves a well-written tale, which is primarily focused in the military situation, but adding just enough of the political background so that one who has little or no knowledge on the subject comes away with a full understanding of our involvement in these banana wars. Recommended reading!"--Darryl R. Smith (edited)
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Empire by default, 1898
Cuba, 1899-1917
Panama, 1885-1904
Nicaragua I, 1912
Haiti, 1915-34 
Dominican Republic I, 1916-24
Nicaragua II, 1927-34
Dominican Republic II, 1965
Grenada, 1983
Afterword: The Panama invasion, 1989
Notes
Bibliography
Index

The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish-American War to the Invasion of Panama

Los sombreros de Panamá, sino que se barican 'dos paises más allá': en Ecuador. Tom Miller viajó hasta allí para buscar los origenes de estos sombreros. Su relato, una mirada fascinante sobre la cultura latinoamericana, constituye un inteligente e irónico viaje.

La aventura le lleva desde Quito, capital de Ecuador, de la que se dijo en tiempos que tenia cien iglesias y un solo cuarto de baño, hasta Guayaquil, en donde el clima tropical es todo un modo de vida. desde la aldea de Déleg en los Andes, en donde la mitad de los adultos varones han emigrado a trabajar a Estados Unidos, hasta Lago Agrio, en la jungla amazónica, en donde una uinta parte de la población femenina adulta son prostitutas.

Comprender cómo se hacen los sombreros de Panamá es algo más que un viaje de aventura y conocimiento cultural; es también una lección sobre el funcionamiento del mundo del comercio. ¿Cómo se hace un sombrero hecho a mano por el que los campesinos cobran setenta centavos y que se vende finalmente a treinta y cinco dólares? ¿Por qué estos campesinos no saben nad de esto y ni siquiera les interesa?

*****

This 15th anniversary reissue of Miller's travel classic follows the making and marketing of a single Panama hat. It's a captivating story of cultures in collision, raw capitalism, and an exotic, humorous journey.

La Ruta de Los Panamas

This is the first paperback version of the second edition of the popular A Guide to the Birds of Panama. In the second edition, published in 1989, the authors expanded information on the birds of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras: approximately 200 new species were added to the material in the 1976 edition. Over 300 additional species, some of them Panamanian, were illustrated. Sixteen new plates were added, and three of the original plates were replaced by improved versions. Throughout the book changes were made to accommodate the explosion in knowledge of the birds of Panama and nearby areas and of neotropical birds in general. The basic sequence and systematics of the AOU 1983 Check-list were adopted. Also included in the revised edition was expanded and updated information on birdfinding in Panama, prepared with the assistance of two of Panama's best resident birders. The book also contains a special section outlining developments in Panama ornithology and conservation. A sophisticated treatment of one of the world's richest avifaunas.--The Quarterly Review of Biology

A Guide to the Birds of Panama: With Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras

Divorcing The Dictator: America's Bungled Affair with Noriega

Red, White, and Blue Paradise: The American Canal Zone in Panama

The true story of how darkness fell upon Panama, how the tyrants, from Omar Torrijos to Manuel Noriega, became creatures of the secret government of the United States, and were supported long after their true nature was known. It is the story of those they killed, corrupted, and those who stood up to them.

In the Time of the Tyrants: Panama, 1968-1990

Writer and Panama native William Friar offers unique tips for visiting this up-and-coming destination, from lounging in the Caribbean islands of Bocas del Toro to hiking the highlands of Boquete and exploring Panama City. Friar uses his local knowledge to craft unique trip strategies, such as The 14-day Outdoor Adventure and Six Days for History Buffs. Complete with details for navigating jungle trails, finding cheap taxis and underground bars, and planning a river expedition, "Moon Panama" gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.


Moon Panama (Moon Handbooks)

Few have a complete understanding of the recent history of Panama, markedly since the signing of the Carter-Torrijos Treaties in 1977. Although the Treaty set the stage for the country to finally control all of its territory, little is known about how Panama has fared, both as a manager of a major waterway and as a sovereign nation in a unique region. Authors Michael L. Conniff and Gene E. Bigler seek to fill this major gap in Latin American history with Modern Panama, a thorough account of the recent political and economic developments in Panama. Despite the country's continued struggle with political corruption, Conniff and Bigler argue that changes since the turnover of the Canal have been largely positive, and Panama has emerged into the twenty-first century as a stable, functioning democracy with a growing economy, improved canal management, and a higher standard of living.

Modern Panama: From Occupation to Crossroads of the Americas

Retiring to live on a group of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama, the author humorously describes how he learned through experience, from the first essential of handling a boat without danger to himself and others to his ultimate achievement of establishing an organic farm on the shore of a distant lagoon. Interspersed with vignettes of the local culture, the account gives an insight to the challenges facing Gringos when pursuing dreams of life on a tropical island. Covering a span of six years from the beginnings of the growth of a tourist industry to a time when the islands were clearly destined to become a major tourist destination, "Don't Kill the Cow Too Quick" records a passing era.

Don't Kill the Cow Too Quick: An Englishman's Adventures Homesteading in Panama

Panama was less than 50 miles wide, yet difficult to bridge by canal -- its swamps were disease-ridden, its mountainous rain forest challenged the most brilliant engineers, and its oppressive heat exhausted the hardiest workers. Engineers found ways to cut through the forest, medical visionaries conquered the diseases, and workers endured the jungle. Yet there were also broken treaties, political tyranny, and the tragedy of thousands of West Indian workers forced to live in awful, segregated conditions.

"Wonders of the World" series

The winner of numerous awards, this series is renowned for Elizabeth Mann's ability to convey adventure and excitement while revealing technical information in engaging and easily understood language. The illustrations are lavishly realistic and accurate in detail but do not ignore the human element. Outstanding in the genre, these books are sure to bring even the most indifferent young reader into the worlds of history, geography, and architecture.

""One of the ten best non-fiction series for young readers."" - Booklist

The Panama Canal: The Story of How a Jungle Was Conquered and the World Made Smaller

The word Darien is a scar on the memory of the Scots, and the hurt is still felt even where the cause of the wound is dimly understood. Three hundred years ago the Parliament of Scotland, in one of its last acts before the nation lost its political identity, defied the King and the persistent hostility of the English to establish a noble trading company, to settle a colony, and to recover its people from a century of despair, privation, famine and decay.

The site of the colony, Darien on the Isthmus of Panama, was the enduring dream of William Paterson, the erratically brilliant Scot who had helped to found the Bank of England. He called it 'the door of the seas, and the key of the universe', and believed that it would become a bridge between East and West, an entrepot through which would pass the richest trade in the world.

The first attempt to make the Company a joint Scots and English venture was crushed by the English Parliament. The Scots created it by themselves, in a wave of almost hysterical enthusiasm, subscribing half of the nation's capital. Three years later the 'noble undertaking', crippled by the quarrelsome stupidity of its leaders, deliberately obstructed by the English Government, and opposed in arms by Spain, had ended in stunning disaster. Nine fine ships owned by the Company had been sunk, burnt or abandoned. Over two thousand men, women and children who went to the fever-ridden colony never returned. It was a tragic curtain to the last act of Scotland's independence.

John Prebble's book is the first detailed account of the Darien Settlement, drawn from original sources in the records of the Company, the journals, letters and memoirs of those who tried to turn William Paterson's dream into reality.

The Darien Disaster: a Scots Colony in the New World, 1698 - 1700

Taking us beyond "the myth of the Panama," this volume offers for the first time an examination of the hat's remarkable history, production process, and variety of shapes.

Panama: A Legendary Hat

The history and operations of the Panama Canal during the 1980s and 1990s come to life in this vibrant personal memoir by retired canal pilot Kenneth P. Puckett. In this book, Captain Puckett shares "sea stories" and other personal memories that have made him a popular teacher and lecturer. For nearly 16 years, until he retired in 1996, he helped to guide ships through the historic Panama Canal on more than 1,400 transits. On these pages he navigates through tales of his rocky childhood in northern Kentucky; his military adventures in both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, where he served two tours of Vietnam; and what it was like in Panama in the 1980s as the Central American country fell into chaos under the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega. Enjoy the breezy storytelling of Captain Puckett as he shares what it was like being a maritime pilot on the canal during its turbulent years of transition to ownership by Panama after nearly a century under U.S. control. But don't think Captain Puckett didn't have fun along the way. He blends into this autobiography many of his unforgettable sea stories, such as the time he encountered a "pooping monkey" on a ship's bridge, and the time he once pranked a ship's captain into thinking he had plowed his vessel through a banana farm.

Captain Puckett: Sea stories of a former Panama Canal pilot

The Birds of Panama: A Field Guide

The thought of retiring to another country has an appeal of excitement and Adventure. Panama has been touted by travel and retirement media as the number one place to retire. Panama offers a life time visa, discounts for retirees and a lower cost of living. While there are many benefits, the travel, and relocation industry has a vested interest in getting you there. They have something to sell you. Live and Retire in Panama provides you with what its truly like living there. Living and visiting are two different things. Some make the move full bore and find out its not what they envisioned as they had only the hype, the juice to make a decision. In this book, you will be given specific considerations to think about to guide you to make a decision that is best for you. Life In Panama is described giving you a full picture of what to expect. You are told what is opinion and what is fact. Culture, neighborhoods, crime, shopping, lack of services, and differences in lifestyle. There is How To information, a complete how to apply for your pensionado visa, documents, documentation and legal counsel. How to apply step by step instructions to bring your Pet to Panama. How to apply for a drivers license the procedure and documents needed. How to apply for a handicap placard. How to register your car, Purchasing or renting property. Mail services, Medical care for Military retirees, and disabled veterans. Medical Insurance, whats available and information for Veterans with disabilities. How to apply for the Foreign Medical program. You are provided with a listing of attorneys and doctor who are English speaking. Where to find religious services in English. Paul has lived in Panama for 6 years and is married to a Panamanian. He provides you with information that he wished he had when coming to Panama along with some examples of his experience. This book will aid your decision making process and makes your relocation and adjustment to Panama life easier.

Live And Retire In Panama: Your Complete Reference Guide For Making The Decision And Making The Move

Over twelve years ago Richard Detrich retired early to escape to an expat lifestyle in Panama. "A pragmatic and thought-provoking guide if you seriously contemplate moving to a new land" - James Fletcher "A comprehensive boots on the ground book about what it is like to live in Panama." - Judy Saccp "Illuminating and entertaining ..." Doug Tyler "Like reading a letter from a good friend who gives you honest answers." - Jubal Atencio "Down to earth, no sugar coating, Richard gives both the good and not so good of living in Panama." - Steve McVicar "Richard tells it exactly like it is ..." - Kathy Donelson

The New Escape to Paradise: Panama Q & A

Crazy Kisses (Steele Street, #4)

On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal officially opened for business, forever changing the face of global trade and military power, as well as the role of the United States on the world stage. The Canal's creation is often seen as an example of U.S. triumphalism, but Noel Maurer and Carlos Yu reveal a more complex story. Examining the Canal's influence on Panama, the United States, and the world, "The Big Ditch" deftly chronicles the economic and political history of the Canal, from Spain's earliest proposals in 1529 through the final handover of the Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999, to the present day.


 The authors show that the Canal produced great economic dividends for the first quarter-century following its opening, despite massive cost overruns and delays. Relying on geographical advantage and military might, the United States captured most of these benefits. By the 1970s, however, when the Carter administration negotiated the eventual turnover of the Canal back to Panama, the strategic and economic value of the Canal had disappeared. And yet, contrary to skeptics who believed it was impossible for a fledgling nation plagued by corruption to manage the Canal, when the Panamanians finally had control, they switched the Canal from a public utility to a for-profit corporation, ultimately running it better than their northern patrons.


 A remarkable tale, "The Big Ditch" offers vital lessons about the impact of large-scale infrastructure projects, American overseas interventions on institutional development, and the ability of governments to run companies effectively.

The Big Ditch: How America Took, Built, Ran, and Ultimately Gave Away the Panama Canal

The true story of a series of bold killings which took place in a shadowy American ex-pat community in Panama--a tale of greed, political history, and murder

In the remote Bocas del Toro, Panama, William Dathan Holbert, aka "Wild Bill," is awaiting trial for the murder of five fellow American ex-patriots. Holbert's first victims were the Brown family, who lived on a remote island in the area's Darklands. There, Holbert turned their home into the "Jolly Roger Social Club," using drink- and drug-fueled parties to get to know other ex-pats. The club's tagline was: "Over 90% of our members survive." Those odds were not in his victims' favor.

But this is not just a book about what Holbert did and the complex financial and real estate motives behind the killings; it is about why Bocas del Toro turned out to be his perfect hunting ground, and why the community tolerated--even accepted--him for a time. Told through the fascinating history of the country of Panama, a paradise with sinister ties to the political and economic interests of the United States, journalist Nick Foster brings this uniquely bizarre place to life, shedding light on a community where many live under assumed names, desperate to leave their old lives behind--and sometimes people just disappear.

The Jolly Roger Social Club: A True Story of a Killer in Paradise

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Prowling About Panama (1919)

The Gringo Guide to Panama II - More to Know Before You Go In 2008, Elizabeth Vance was transferred to Panama; a huge life change which proved challenging, exciting and led to the writing of her first book, the Amazon Kindle bestseller, The Gringo Guide to Panama: What to Know Before You Go. Funny, direct and unembellished, this 2014 release includes several additional topics about Panama, as requested by her readers and followers online (including gems that did not make it into the first book). Inside The Gringo Guide to Panama II: More to Know Before You Go, you will find: Panama's recent statistics and what they mean to you Panama 101: Things you may not know about this country, but should Panama's retirement visa and other options Planning your move to Panama - asking the right questions, finding a broker, choosing where to live, relocating your pets and more Panama's education system and private school options Adjusting to the tropics: Climate, culture and creepy crawlies Panama as a launch pad for travel - getting to and from Panama, neighboring countries to visit, where to stay in the city, and off the beaten path Healthcare in Panama, - quality of care, finding a doctor, medical specialties and our personal surgery experience in a Panamanian hospital How holidays in Panama differ from North America and the rest of the world Plugging into local life - bars, bites, fun, fitness and shopping Interviews with expats in Panama (a retiree, a semi-retiree, an entrepreneur and an expat in her 20's) The unvarnished truth and many anecdotes about what life in Panama is really like And much, much more Before you decide if Panama is right for you, or plan to travel, move, or retire to Panama, read The Gringo Guide to Panama II: More to Know Before You Go. Take advantage of these valuable insider insights from a seasoned expat who's moved, adapted, acclimated and fallen in love with life in Panama over the past six years. Wishing you the best in your journey to Panama, or wherever you may land! Elizabeth Vance What others have said about The Gringo Guide to Panama: What to Know Before You Go by Elizabeth Vance: "Extremely helpful, funny and realistic. I read the whole book in two days with my fiance who previously lived in Panama. He thoroughly enjoyed the book, because almost everything he read, he could relate to." Stephanie Halcomb, future expat, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida "In a world where there is always an angle, this book delivers something radically different: the unbiased truth about expat life in Panama. Read this book as an adventurer, and you find an honest and engaging account." Shane Press, The Business Technologist, Australia "I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Gringo Guide to Panama. I wish my husband and I had this book before or while we lived in Panama. Elizabeth's observations put sense into what we experienced and would have helped us react differently, which would have taken some stress out of our life in Panama. A must read for people planning to relocate to Panama. " Judy C., former expat, Chicago, Illinois"

The Gringo Guide to Panama II: More to Know Before You Go

The remarkable arts and culture of the Kuna of Panama are accessible in this comprehensive, illustrated volume. From the familiar reverse appliqued molas to music, dance, and verbal arts, the Kuna live their values and bind their people together. This focus and strength has helped them to resist outside forces and maintain their culture and self-determination in the face of peoples and governments far more powerful.

Panama

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

David McCullough

The Tailor of Panama

John le Carré

Panama Fever: The Epic Story of the Building of the Panama Canal

Matthew Parker

Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite

Jake Bernstein

The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal

Julie Greene

How Wall Street Created a Nation: J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal

Ovidio Diaz Espino

Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama

John Lindsay-Poland

Erased: The Untold Story of the Panama Canal

Marixa Lasso

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Nicholas D. Kristof

The Trip to Panama

Janosch

Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal

Margarita Engle

Six Minutes To Freedom

John Gilstrap

Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement

Graham Greene

The Hunt for the Golden Horse (The Riverdale Pony Stories, #7)

Amanda Wills

Panama 1914 (The early years of the Big Dig)

Ken Rossignol

A People Who Would Not Kneel: Panama, the United States, and the San Blas Kuna

James Howe

The Cloud Garden: A True Story of Adventure, Survival, and Extreme Horticulture

Tom Hart Dyke

The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

Alicia Garza

The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs

Ulrich Keller

Canal Zone Daughter: An American Childhood in Panama

Judy Haisten

The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish-American War to the Invasion of Panama

Ivan Musicant

La Ruta de Los Panamas

Tom Miller

A Guide to the Birds of Panama: With Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras

Robert S. Ridgely

Divorcing The Dictator: America's Bungled Affair with Noriega

Frederick Kempe

Red, White, and Blue Paradise: The American Canal Zone in Panama

Herbert Knapp

In the Time of the Tyrants: Panama, 1968-1990

R.M. Koster

Moon Panama (Moon Handbooks)

William Friar

Modern Panama: From Occupation to Crossroads of the Americas

Michael L. Conniff

Don't Kill the Cow Too Quick: An Englishman's Adventures Homesteading in Panama

Malcolm Henderson

The Panama Canal: The Story of How a Jungle Was Conquered and the World Made Smaller

Elizabeth Mann

The Darien Disaster: a Scots Colony in the New World, 1698 - 1700

John Prebble

Panama: A Legendary Hat

Martine Buchet

Captain Puckett: Sea stories of a former Panama Canal pilot

Kenneth P. Puckett

The Birds of Panama: A Field Guide

George R. Angehr

Live And Retire In Panama: Your Complete Reference Guide For Making The Decision And Making The Move

Paul LeMay

The New Escape to Paradise: Panama Q & A

Richard Detrich

Crazy Kisses (Steele Street, #4)

Tara Janzen

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

David McCullough

The Big Ditch: How America Took, Built, Ran, and Ultimately Gave Away the Panama Canal

Noel Maurer

The Jolly Roger Social Club: A True Story of a Killer in Paradise