The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs and the occasional shadowy human

and the occasional shadowy human figure

power struggle

1880 edition

rose garden

This edition features a new Introduction that traces the book's significance

The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs and the occasional shadowy humanIn 1889 the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocanique 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