Customer Reviews

Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the U.S. in Panama (American Encounters/Global Interactions)

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Lindsay-Poland has written an exceptional book that brings to light fascinating information about US activities and motivations in Panama. Anyone interested in Panama and/or US-Panama relations must read this book. Rather than looking at the isthmus superficially, e.g., focusing on the Noriega crisis or the Canal Treaties, the author takes an historical view of US military interests in Panama and even globally. The book is factual, insightful and enjoyable!

Very well researched but the author obviously has a chip on his shoulder. He takes every opportunity to blast the U.S. Government (sometimes rightfully so) but the book would be much more bearable if he would just present the facts without taking every opportunity to play-up how the upper-class Americans oppressed, exploited and took advantage of the lower-class (Indian and African workers). I was looking for a book that presented a comprehensive history but the author is just too angry to be taken seriously.

Interesting book but as somebody concerned with Panama's environment I can only be happy the US left the shooting ranges 'as is', in compliance with the Canal treaties (a school is a school, an office is an office, a shooting range is a shooting range).

Thanks to "the disposal of the tens of thousands of explosives it left" these area are now reclaimed by the jungle and its natural inhabitants and will not be subject to greedy developers and corrupt polititians in Panama who have zero respect for nature.

It's often ignored in books like these that a superpower can only do what it does thanks to the cooperation of the corrupt local elites - including those in the academic world - that are more concerned about their own pockets and position than the interest of the country.

"Emperors in the Jungle" by John Lindsay-Poland, co-director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean, is a "must read" for Americans to understand what has indeed been "the hidden history of the U.S. in Panama."

After the Spanish-American War, 1898, when with the acquisition of the Philippines, the United States became a Pacific power and before we had an armada in every body of water on earth, it became imperative that our navy be able to travel quickly between our interests across the Atlantic Ocean and our new interests in lands across the Pacific. The answer was a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The story of U.S. manipulation and conquest of that land is splendidly told by Lindsay-Poland in "Emperors in the Jungle."

As the granddaughter of one of those Americans who, escaping poverty in Ohio, helped build that canal, and the daughter of a woman born in a construction town flooded in the creation of Gatun Lake as part of that canal, as a patriot of Panama as well as of the United States, I was heartened to read an account of the history between these two countries as accurate and balanced as Lindsay-Poland's.

I quarrel with only a couple small inaccuracies, for instance that Americans in Panama did not share with Panamanians the loss of certain consumer goods during World War II. As a child, I remember my mother and her sisters struggling to draw a line on the back of their calves to simulate the seam of silk stockings which were not available; and my dad's drinking rum for the duration as Scotch, too, had disappeared.

While Lindsay-Poland accurately cites four reasons for the US invasion of Panama in 1989, I wonder whether Noriega's role in fostering the peace initiative of Contadora during the US wars in Central America might not have played a role. And when the news came out that the Stealth Bomber was used for the first time in combat during the invasion, I was reminded of Guernica and the bombing of that small town in Spain by Germans testing their bombers prior to World War II. According to my friends in Panama, the U.S. had the option of backing a coup to be rid of Noriega. We chose invasion instead. Interestingly, the two poorest neighborhoods in Panama City, Chorillo and San Miguelito, were badly damaged while richer areas, like Paitilla, escaped unscathed.

Delivered earlier than advertised.Great condition.

Have not read the book yet to add more comments.

This was a very interesting book about the USA's involvement in the shaping of Panama of today. Some of the chapters make you shake your head in disbelief!

Why can't some people write honest and balanced history?

The author has obviously done a lot of research, but his vitriol and one-side interpretation of virtualy every U.S.-Panamanian event diminishes the effect his book could have had.

What a shame. There is a story to be told but this is not the book to accomplish that.

Shame on you for using your intelligence in such a negative fashion. Grow up, consider all the facts and stop being a propagandist.

I am not angry just very disappointed.

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Professor Mellander established Latin American Area programs at several universities. He is the author of the critically acclaimed, "The United States in Panamanian Politics."