Prize Possession: The United States Government and the Panama Canal 1903-1979

by John Major

Overview

Prize Possession is a comprehensive history of U.S. policy toward the Panama Canal between 1903 and 1979, focusing on five key themes: the Canal's defense and its place in American strategy; the Zone's autocratic system of government; its strictly segregated labor force; its commercial development at the expense of Panama; and the equally controversial issue of U.S. intervention in Panamanian politics. The book is based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of U.S. government agencies, namely the State, War, and Navy Departments, and the Canal Zone administration, as well as on the papers of notable dramatis personae such as Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Philippe Bunau-Varilla.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521521260
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/30/2003
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.02(d)

Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgments; Part I. Prelude: 1826–1904: 1. The quest for an American canal, 1826–1903; 2. 'I took the isthmus', 1903–4; Part II. Beginnings: 1904–29: 3. The zone régime; 4. The labour force; 5. The Commissary; 6. The protectorate; 7. Canal defence; Part III. Transitions: 1930–55: 8. The zone régime; 9. The labour force; 10. The commissary; 11. Partnership politics; 12. Canal defence; Part IV. Recessional: 1956–79: 13. 'Mandate from civilization'?, Map of the Canal Zone; Appendices; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

"John Major has produced a diplomatic historian's history of the United States' Panama Canal policy: meticulously sourced and laden with documentary evidence, this jewel will be the standard on the subject for years to come....Every possible document that is currently available has been used....[and] these many sources are woven into a narrative that is a pleasure to read." Margaret E. Scranton, International History Review

"In reviewing this work, one must begin by congratulating John Major and thanking him for his attention to detail and painstaking scholarship. He has labored hard and thoughtfully for his reader. The documentation is so complete and the discussion of issues so thorough that the work takes on the character of a reference book. It is the sort of book one keeps handy on the shelf. It is document-driven and demanding of the reader, but the rewards are high. One acquires a deep understanding of U.S. policy toward the Panama Canal, particularly as it affected the defense of the waterway, the governance of the Canal Zone, and relations with the Republic of Panama." Charles D. Ameringer, The Americas

"This work is a jewel of information." Gustave Anguizola, Journal of American History

"The study is both informative and substantive and as such deserves inclusion on any short list of works dealing with the United States and Panama." Canadian Jrnl of Latin American & Caribbean Studies

From the Publisher

In this well-researched, scholarly study, Major traces the roots of Washington's Panama Canal policy deep into the 19th century, with emphasis on the rivalry between the U.S. and Britain over the proposed isthmian waterway. The author, who teaches history at the University of Hull in England, describes how the U.S. gained treaty rights to build, maintain and fortify the canal and explains how the canal affected Panamanian politics and economics. Built between 1904 and 1914, the canal performed a dual role as a thoroughfare for maritime commerce and a conduit for seapower. Major argues that the canal more than justified itself in both categories throughout WW II but lost its strategic and economic importance in the postwar years. In a later section of the study he charts the U.S. government's decision to transfer canal authority to Panama via treaties signed in 1977 during the Carter administration. Those treaties stipulated that in 1979 the Canal Zone, created three quarters of a century earlier, would cease to exist. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

British scholar Major has examined a wealth of U.S. government documents bearing on American involvement in Panama and the Canal Zone, from Theodore Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter. Unlike such previous scholars as David McCullough, who have concentrated on how the United States acquired the rights in 1903 to build an isthmian canal, Major focuses on the subsequent history of the Canal Zone. His concern is how the United States administered the zone, governed its people, and intervened in Panamanian politics for more than seven decades. Despite its considerable achievement, Major's work will not supplant Walter LaFeber's The Panama Canal: The Crisis in Historical Perspective (1978; LJ 10/15/89. rev. ed.), which should also be consulted. Recommended for academic libraries.-- Thomas H. Appleton Jr., Kentucky Historical Soc., Frankfort

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