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Title details for Panama Fever by Matthew Parker - Available

Panama Fever

The Epic History of One of the Greatest Engineering Triumphs of All Time: The Building of the Panama Canal

by Matthew Parker
William Dufris
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
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." Panama Fever brilliantly captures the innovative thinking and backbreaking labor, as well as the commercial and political interests, that helped make America a global power.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 18, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780792753742
      • File size: 510817 KB
      • Duration: 17:44:12

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Digging a waterway between the seas took decades, cost thousands of lives, sent France into bankruptcy, and made some men either famous or infamous. Parker's reliance on the work of previous Panama Canal historians--as indicated by the thousands of quotes in this work--causes havoc with its narration. To set the quotes apart, narrator William Dufris begins them with a pause in mid-sentence, thereby breaking his cadence with a frequency that becomes annoying. And since the failed French attempt fills a third of Parker's history, the producers should have found a reader who can pronounce the numerous French names and phrases better than an unstudied American. Dufris's most enjoyable trait is a taciturn voice that speaks at a comfortable pace. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 25, 2008
      This account of the building of the Panama Canal-an adventure saga, political account and horror story in equal measure-has a workaday sensibility. William Dufris does not boom or simper, and he does little in the way of accents or voices. Instead, he pounds, parries and plods his way through Parker's prose, doing no harm, but not doing the story many favors either. Instead, he pulls back every other sentence or so, reaching for a high point or coming to a sudden halt. The work is solid, but it is hard to feel Dufris's connection to the book. He gamely does his best, but the sum total of his reading is underwhelming. Simultaneous release with the Doubleday hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 5).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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