An author who believes that Jamaicans are “incurably lazy” (p. 42), that “Colombia . . . was turbulent and unreliable even as Latin-American nations went” (p. 95), and who cites Samuel F. Bemis’ 1943 book, The Latin American Policy of the United States, as an authority on United States imperialism in the Caribbean area (p. 160), is unlikely to command the respect of the readership of the HAHR. The existence of footnotes, a bibliography, and index is evidence that the author is aiming at an educated audience. But the scholarly paraphernalia are a pretense. The footnotes serve principally as vehicles for straying from the point, the bibliography is hopelessly out of date, and the index is so sketchy as to be virtually useless. It would be surprising if the text were to rise above these defects. There are no surprises. In the text I can find nothing about the concept, building, and present status of the Panama Canal that is not more ably and more amply told elsewhere.
If the author is aiming his book at a youthful audience I can only react by warning librarians of high school and public libraries not to stock this book. It caters to stereotypes and prejudices about Latin America and perpetuates misconceptions about United States-Latin American relations from the Monroe Doctrine to the Panamanian riots of 1964. Style is no compensation, for the writing is overly dramatic and occasionally confusing. The book does not even stick to the subject: the thread of the canal story is broken by diversions on World War I, the Monroe Doctrine, the William Walker imbroglio, Maximilian in Mexico, and so forth. There are some excellent photographs of the building phase of the canal, but there is only one map and that is of the railroad rather than the canal.
In the concluding chapter, entitled, “The Biggest Bang of All,” the author speculates about the possibility of using nuclear explosives to build a second Panama Canal. With barely a nod to the ecologists and others who have raised serious objections to this procedure, he concludes that “it seems likely that when the next interoceanic canal is built it will be with a bang—the greatest bang by far that the world has ever known. This is as it should be. The neighborhood always was receptive of superlatives” (p. 167).
In short, my generosity can produce no reason whatsoever for recommending the purchase of this book.