Reviews
"Few great feats of engineering have been steeped in as much passion and tragedy as the Panama Canal, and no one tells the story better than Matthew Parker. Through meticulous research and vivid, vigorous prose, Parker has captured the frenzy surrounding the canal and the heartbreaking toll that it took on the thousands of men who set off like soldiers to Panama's 'Fever Coast,' never to return." - Candice Millard, author ofThe River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey "An epic tale of human folly and endeavor, beautifully told and researched." - John le Carré "[An] engrossing narrative of what Theodore Roosevelt called 'one of the great works of the world.'" -Publishers Weekly(starred review), "Few great feats of engineering have been steeped in as much passion and tragedy as the Panama Canal, and no one tells the story better than Matthew Parker. Through meticulous research and vivid, vigorous prose, Parker has captured the frenzy surrounding the canal and the heartbreaking toll that it took on the thousands of men who set off like soldiers to Panama's 'Fever Coast,' never to return." - Candice Millard, author ofThe River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey "An epic tale of human folly and endeavor, beautifully told and researched." - John le Carré "[An] engrossing narrative of what Theodore Roosevelt called 'one of the great works of the world.'" -Publishers Weekly(starred review) Los Angeles Times By Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 12, 2008 Most Americans' knowledge of the Panama Canal was acquired in a haze of junior high school history -- somewhere alongside "trust busting" and the "bully pulpit" in the unit on Teddy Roosevelt and turn-of-the-century American confidence. There was a spasm of interest in the canal 31 years ago, when the United States agreed to turn it -- along with the surrounding territory -- over to Panama, and also a flicker of notice in 1999 when the actual handover occurred. Beyond that, it's been pretty much out of sight, out of mind -- except on the political fringes, where some have tried to argue that Sen. John McCain's birth in the Canal Zone disqualifies him from seeking the presidency. Fortunately, the Central American-born and British-educated author Matthew Parker missed out on the standard-issue, stultifying American tutorial. And, thus, we have his book "Panama Fever," which is not only an absolutely gripping account of the canal's conception and construction but also notice that a brilliant new popular historian has arrived on the scene. "Popular," in this sense, means readable and committed to narrative storytelling, which Parker most assuredly is. He also happens to be an author of wide-ranging intelligence and deep humanity -- two qualities that don't always go hand-in-hand -- which makes "Panama Fever" much more than its rather relentless subtitle would suggest: "The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time -- the Building of the Panama Canal." In fact, the essence of Parker's rather remarkable achievement in this altogether entertaining history is to show just how much more than an engineering triumph the construction of the canal really was -- and, indeed, continues to be. Certainly, even in this era of so-called super-ships that are too large to use its locks, the canal remains a vital economic link. Nearly 1 million ships have traversed it since it opened 93 years ago, and today fully 5% of all the world's seagoing commerce and 12% of all American shipping still moves through the canal. The waterway is key to the booming trade between the U.S. and China, now the canal's top users. There's a lovely symmetry in those statistics, because one of the things Parker's history makes clear is that the canal's origins extend back to the very beginnings of Spanish exploration of the New World, an undertaking that was all about gaining access to the riches of Asia. Even though the plunder of the Americas intervened, nobody ever quite lost sight of what might be gained if a southern passage to the East might be discovered -- or constructed. Indeed, when the Spanish conquistador Vasco Nuñez de Balboa first traversed the Darien jungle from the east, mounted a small hill and glimpsed the Pacific on one side and the Atlantic on the other, "he fell to his knees in prayer and then called up his men, 'shewing them the great ma, "Few great feats of engineering have been steeped in as much passion and tragedy as the Panama Canal, and no one tells the story better than Matthew Parker. Through meticulous research and vivid, vigorous prose, Parker has captured the frenzy surrounding the canal and the heartbreaking toll that it took on the thousands of men who set off like soldiers to Panama's 'Fever Coast, ' never to return." - Candice Millard, author of "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" "An epic tale of human folly and endeavor, beautifully told and researched." - John le Carre "[An] engrossing narrative of what Theodore Roosevelt called 'one of the great works of the world.'" - "Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
