Panama and the United States: The Forced Alliance (The United States and the Americas) [Paperback]

Michael L. Conniff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1992 | Series: The United States and the Americas

This new edition of Panama and the United States, examines how relations between Panama and the United States have always pivoted on the issue of transportation across the country's narrow isthmus and delves into the future of those relations now that Panama controls the canal. Historically, Panamanians aspired to have their country become a crossroads of the world, while Americans sought to tame a vast territory and protect their trade and influence around the globe. The building of the Panama Canal (1904-1914) locked the two countries in their parallel quests but failed to satisfy either fully. Michael L. Conniff explores the implications of Panama's newly acquired opportunities and how events since the 1989 U.S. invasion have provided a rich environment for the emergence of new parties, a new generation of politicians, and more democratic business procedures. Panama is now able to re-create its own nationhood relatively free from outside pressures.

Drawing on a wide array of sources updated for this edition, Conniff considers the full range of factors--political, social, strategic, diplomatic, economic, intellectual--that have bound the two countries together. He conveys the viewpoints of leaders in each country but also follows the shifting currents of public opinion. As he shows, the many layers of decision making, opinion, communication, and administration that affected the construction, operation, and turning over of the canal have made relations slow and sometimes impenetrable.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Conniff has carefully mined the rich secondary literature on Panama and neatly pieced together the significant aspects of its diplomatic, economic, political, and cultural history. He has written a masterful synthesis, complete with lively narratives and insightful analyses. Based on the theme that Panama-United States relations have constituted a forced alliance, the book differs from most others by examining the experiences of Panamanians and Yankees on all social levels."--Journal of American History

"This is a balanced study. Conniff is no apologist for U.S. policy, but he understands the contradiction between the American perception of itself as a positive force and the reality of its often negative presence."--American Historical Review

"[Panama and the United States] contains a cornucopia of information while at the same time providing some interesting detours along the way. Conniff . . . produces an engrossing and informative book."--Choice

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Michael L. Conniff is director of Latin American and Caribbean studies and a professor of Latin American history at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He lived and worked in Panama for many years. He is the author of several books on Panama, Brazil, and Latin America.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Georgia Pr (February 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820313602
• ISBN-13: 978-0820313603
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,657,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, Well-written and Unbiased, February 23, 2010

By 

Gustavo A. Mellander, Ph.D., D.H.L. "Gus A. M... (George Mason Univer., Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Panama and the United States: The Forced Alliance (The United States and the Americas) (Paperback)

Dr. Conniff is a serious student of Latin America. His research is solid and he has a pleasant writing style:interesting and to the point. This book is a good introduction to the history of the Isthmus of Panama. And it is a fabled history, indeed.

From the very beginning of the European presence in Panama, Vasco Nunez de Balboa who treked across the isthmus in the early 1500s with a motley crew of adventurers, Panama was used and abused by the European invaders. After discovering the Pacific Ocean, the South Sea as he named it, Balboa imprisioned some natives, stole their gold and pearls and in short acted as most conquistadores did: badly.

Subsequently many Europeans had hopes for an interoceanic canal. The Spanish, English, Germans, French and others had ambitions to build or at least control the canal once it was built. The U. S. under the indomitable Theodore Roosevelt would march into history when he secretly supported Panama's bid for independence against Colombia in November 1903. Colombia was balking on a previous agreement to allow the U. S. to build a canal and unfortunately for Colombia Roosevelt got peeved and looked for a way to proceed. He supported an uprising. It was Panama's 83rd attempt to separate from Colombia since joining Gran Colombia in the 1820s. In the past the United States, under a treaty with Colombia, helped put down some of those uprisings. In short, the record is very clear, Panama was anything but a happy Colombian province for sone 80 years and tried to separate many times.

Roosevelt spearheaded a great engineering feat which took 10 years and the lives of hundreds and the labor of thousands to complete. Inaugurated in August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal continues to be one of the world's greatest engineering accomplishments.

All of this history and much more is covered in Conniff's excellent book. For those seeking further information,the Canal Zone Museum and an extensive collection of data is available at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Could Possibly Want to Know About the Canal, May 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Panama and the United States: The Forced Alliance (The United States and the Americas) (Paperback)

I recently wrote a U.S. History Term paper on the Panama Canal, and during the scamble for resources, I found this book on Amazon.com. It served as the backbone of my paper, focusing on every facet of the canal's existence, including the flawed U.S. reasoning while aquiring the canal. Conniff makes the situation clear allowing you to make your own judgments. Without this book, I would not have had a paper. A+