The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal (Penguin History of American Life)

The Panama Canal has traditionally been presented as a triumph of American engineering and ingenuity. The Canal Builders examines this historic project from the perspective of the workers themselves—tens of thousands of men and women who came from around the world to construct it. Julie Greene draws on letters, memoirs, and government documents to move beyond the standard narrative and reveal the difficult working conditions and discriminatory policies that characterized the canal's construction. The book chronicles both the struggles and achievements of the workers and their families. Through extensive research and detailed narrative, The Canal Builders explores the human dimensions of one of the world's greatest labor mobilizations and examines how the project contributed to America's twentieth-century empire.