Segregation, malaria and 25,000 dead: The hidden history of the Panama Canal in a literary epic

Segregation, malaria and 25,000 dead: The hidden history of the Panama Canal in a literary epic

In 1907, in the heart of a sweltering jungle, one of the most ambitious engineering feats of the 20th century began: the construction of the Panama Canal. But what is usually recounted in history books — the diplomatic treaties, the astronomical figures, the names of engineers — leaves out those who put their bodies (an estimated 25,000 dead), their homes, and their health at risk. In The Great Divide, now also available in Spanish, Panamanian-A…