The building of the Panama Canal was one of the greatest engineering feats in human history. A tale of exploration, conquest, money, politics, and medicine, Panama Fever charts the challenges that marked the long, labyrinthine road to the building of the canal. Drawing on a wealth of new materials and sources, Matthew Parker brings to life the men who recognized the impact a canal would have on global politics and economics, and adds new depth to the familiar story of Teddy Roosevelt's remarkable triumph in making the waterway a reality.
As thousands of workers succumbed to dysentery, yellow fever, and malaria, scientists raced to stop the deadly epidemics so that work could continue. The treatments they developed changed the course of medical history. The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 spelled the end of the Victorian Age and the beginning of the "American Century."
Preface: The Battle to Build the Canal
Chapter 1: “The Keys to the Universe”
Chapter 2: Rivalry and Stalemate
Chapter 4: “A Natural Culminating Point”
Chapter 5: The Competing Routes
Chapter 6: “Le Grand Français”
Chapter 8: The Riches of France
Chapter 13: Collapse and Scandal
Chapter 14: Heroes and Villains—The “Battle of the Routes”
Chapter 15: “I Took the Isthmus”
Chapter 16: “Make the Dirt Fly”
Chapter 20: The Digging Machine
Chapter 22: “The Army of Panama”
Chapter 24: “Lord How Piercing!”
Chapter 25: The Land Divided, The World United
Postscript: Whose Canal Is It, Anyway?