Author/photographer Jeremy Snapp has produced a dramatic photo-essay of rare images that depict events in the decade preceding the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. Original photos taken by Snapp's great-grandfather Gerald Sherman, a respected mining engineer of the day, deliver a technical perspective of this undertaking unlike anything previously published. Finally, as the U.S. ceded authority over the canal to the Panamanian government in 1999, Jeremy Snapp travelled to the canal zone with an antique cameratp capture images of the original buildings and construction relics that remained.

The untold history of the Panama Canal--from Panama's point of view. Sleuth and scholar, Marixa Lasso has uncovered a long-overlooked story: to build their Canal, Americans displaced 40,000 Panamanians and erased entire cities, only to convince the world they had brought modernity to the tropics.--

This tale of an unprecedented technological advance unfolds in a compelling narrative of risks, hardships, disasters, and triumph. More than 160 historic photographs depict exotic settings, workers' housing, dredging operations, much more.

The Panama Canal was the costliest undertaking in history; its completion in 1914 marked the beginning of the “American Century.” Panama Fever draws on contemporary accounts, bringing the experience of those who built the canal vividly to life. Politicians engaged in high-stakes diplomacy in order to influence its construction. Meanwhile, engineers and workers from around the world rushed to take advantage of high wages and the chance to be a part of history. Filled with remarkable characters, Panama Fever is an epic history that shows how a small, fiercely contested strip of land made the world a smaller place and launched the era of American global dominance.