"I can think of no contemporary work of scholarship that does what this work does. It is original in that it examines the interplay between Panama's democratic development within the larger context of U.S. hegemony during the twentieth century . . . and unique [in its] attention to the interplay of domestic political and international (hegemonic) forces during this period."--Steve Ropp, University of Wyoming0 "This update of Panama history and international relations within the context of U.S. hegemony is current, critical, and well executed."--Jeanne A. Hey, Miami University, Ohio Sanchez tells the story of how Panama, though one of the smallest Latin American countries, played the largest symbolic role in America's ascent to world power status, particularly during the U. S. almost century-long occupation of the Canal Zone from 1903 until December 31, 1999. A narrow isthmus linking North America and South America, Panama's strategic geographic location and size has attracted the attention of strong nation-states for 500 years. The United States would undoubtedly have become a great power without the Isthmus of Panama, but more than any other country in the hemisphere, Panama has served as a critical outpost for U.S. power and as an instrument for U.S. military and economic might. Sanchez argues that the policies of the United States toward Panama--motivated principally by the goal of preserving its hegemony in Latin America--produced a formidable barrier to developing democratic politics in Panama. Examining key events and personalities in Panama's political history from the 1850s to the present, this comprehensive survey analyzes U.S.-Panamanian relations through the 1989 removal of General Manuel Noriega by U.S. armed forces and the final disposition of the Panama Canal Treaties, culminating in the return of all canal-related lands to the Panamanian government. This book is foremost a study of power relationships, demonstrating how domestic political development cannot be understood fully without taking power at the international level into consideration. Combining theory, case study, and policy relevance, this volume makes significant contributions to both comparative politics and international relations theory, showing that domestic and international politics are two sides of one coin. Featuring a comprehensive bibliography of material in both Spanish and English, the book will be a key resource not only for Latin Americanists but for anyone interested in the process of democratization and the effects of the international system on domestic political development. Peter M. Sanchez is associate professor of political science at Loyola University, Chicago.

The Panama Canal's untold history—from the Panamanian point of view. Sleuth and scholar Marixa Lasso recounts how the canal’s American builders displaced 40,000 residents and erased entire towns in the guise of bringing modernity to the tropics. The Panama Canal set a new course for the modern development of Central America. Cutting a convenient path from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, it hastened the currents of trade and migration that were already reshaping the Western hemisphere. Yet the waterway was built at considerable cost to a way of life that had characterized the region for centuries. In Erased, Marixa Lasso recovers the history of the Panamanian cities and towns that once formed the backbone of the republic. Drawing on vast and previously untapped archival sources and personal recollections, Lasso describes the canal’s displacement of peasants, homeowners, and shop owners, and chronicles the destruction of a centuries-old commercial culture and environment. On completion of the canal, the United States engineered a tropical idyll to replace the lost cities and towns—a space miraculously cleansed of poverty, unemployment, and people—which served as a convenient backdrop to the manicured suburbs built exclusively for Americans. By restoring the sounds, sights, and stories of a world wiped clean by U.S. commerce and political ambition, Lasso compellingly pushes back against a triumphalist narrative that erases the contribution of Latin America to its own history.

The second edition of Bradt's award-winning guide to Panama, now fully revised and updated. It's the most thorough guide on the market covering eco-tourism, beaches, festivals, cities and much more besides.

The small country of Panama links North and South America. Each year, thousands of ships pass between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through a human-created waterway called the Panama Canal. Learn more about Panama’s fascinating history, culture, geography, and more in Panama, an Exploring Countries book.

Thousands of hours of research have culminated in this First Edition of U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard and Naval Air Transport Service patrol aircraft lost or damaged during World War II. Within these 600+ pages can be found more than 2,200 patrol aircraft across nearly 300 squadron designations; the majority of the aircraft complete with their stories of how they were lost or damaged or simply Struck Off Charge (SOC) and removed from the Navy's inventory. Of interest to the reader may be the alphabetical Index to the 7,600+ names of Officers, aircrewmen and others mentioned in the book.

One must handle the challenges of growing up with a sense of humor. Though living in paradise can be a dream, life is not without strife. There were no rich, no poor, and no unemployment in Brian Allen's Panama Canal Zone. Yet his home town was utterly destroyed and the dead exhumed. Brian tells his story with humor, warts and all. My Paradise Lost is about a boy growing to manhood in the golden age of the Canal Zone. It was an innocent, Huck Finn in the rain forest existence. His township of Coco Solo was a blue collar world of mangoes and maids, exotica and history. Misadventure abounds and teen romance is just as awkward in paradise as anywhere. There is parental conflict, life, death, and the ghost of Jim Crow racism. At the best time of his life, Brian is involved in a fatal car accident that puts him in the custody of the intimidating Guardia Nacional. His fate rests in the courts of a dictatorship whose El Supremo is bent on sovereignty over his Canal Zone home. You will feel the tropical sun, splash in the canal, ache for love, laugh at the familiar, and cry for the dead. Photos and popular recipes are included."I thought the wonderful days of growing up in the Zone were gone until I read My Paradise Lost. This Coco Solo girl was transported back to treasured days gone by. Brian beautifully captured the spirit of the Zone, mosquitoes and all. Thank you Brian for a personal peek at an evolving Paradise." --Betty LeDoux-Morris, four time past president of the Panama Canal Society. “You learn something when you read Brian Allen's work, about history, about the world, about yourself, in a voice that is as familiar and comfortable as your best friend's.” --Karen L. Barron, English Professor and award winning fiction and non-fiction writer. Reader: be prepared. This is a charming coming-of-age memoir set in the exotic location of the Panama Canal Zone, and filled with humor, adventure, and insight. But My Paradise Lost is also an examination of colonialism, justice, hardship and loss. Through his story, Allen reveals the development of his character. In doing so, he enlarges our sense of what it means to be both Americans and global citizens. --Thomas Averill, English Professor, W.U. Writer in Residence, O. Henry Award winning author.