Panama Canal

The story of the construction of the Panama Canal—now considered one of the “seven wonders of the modern world”—is chronicled in this entertaining PBS-aired American Experience documentary recalling an age when America was beginning to flex its muscles on the world stage. Combining historic photos and footage, archival interviews with workers, and firsthand accounts of life in the Canal Zone, director Stephen Ives' The Panama Canal—narrated by Michael Murphy—deftly tells the tale of how a centuries-long dream of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by cutting a canal across the Isthmus of Panama was finally realized. The French had tried and failed in the 1880s, but a U.S.-led insurrection against the government of Colombia resulted in the creation of Panama, which gave the United States certain territorial rights and paved the way for Teddy Roosevelt to champion the waterway as a culmination of “America's mighty march of progress.” These lofty words met harsh reality, however, when hundreds of millions of tons of earth had to be removed from swamps, jungles, and mountain ranges, and the colossal effort bogged down due to a lack of planning and insufficient manpower, plus the scourges of tropical disease. Although the project encountered many obstacles, the successful completion of the 50-mile-long canal in 1914 represented an astonishing technological triumph, while a parallel public health campaign resulted in the eradication of yellow fever. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)