275. The Battle To Build The Panama Canal (Part 3)

Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnan. And me, William Durrenpull. So the last couple of episodes, you will remember, we spoke to Mark Horton. And we were talking about Panama.

And the reason, just to remind you, in case you needed reminding, is that we're basically traveling down Donald Trump's shopping list and talking about the imperial histories of all the places that he's got on his to buy list and the Panama Canal being one of them. And one of the things that he has said is that of course the Panama Canal should be American again because it was blood, sweat, tears, and toil of Americans that went into it. The Americans gave the Panama Canal to the world, so of course we should have it back. But it is a much more complicated history than that. And an excellent, excellent book.

And our special guest today is the author of that book. Hell's Gorge tells a very different story, the battle to build the Panama Canal. Completely wonderful book and and just beautifully written, amazingly researched. You just butted in before the big buildup of the author. Wait, it is a wonderful book.

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