Alumni Travel Reading Lists 2020: Panama Canal

Panama Canal by John6536 used under Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Panama Canal is approximately 80 kilometers long between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Canal uses a system of locks that function as water lifts, raising the ships from sea level to the level of Gatun Lake. (Video from Panama Canal YouTube Page)

Four Centuries of the Panama Canal  by Willis Fletcher Johnson,1857-1931.

Beginning with Colombus's voyage and ending with Yankee hegemony.  Johnson writes, "The Story is nearly four hundred centuries long and implicates, literally, mankind from China to Peru." You can read this online through Hathitrust.org, an openly accessible database with full text (read online) for those books published primarily before 1923.

For a more pictorial works, try Panama Canal Pictures : Showing the Latest Photographs of the Progress Construction on the Isthmian Canal : together with a brief introduction, some interesting figures, and a map of the Canal Zone.

Scroll through pages to read book below or go to Hathitrust by clicking on the either of the links above.

Manual Antonio National Park by Matthew used under Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Blue Dacnis Dacnis Cayana by Gail Hampshire used under Creative Commons License CC-BY-2.0

Poems of Panamá, and other verses, founded upon adventures in the wanderings of one of nature's nomads by George Warburton Lewis

This book was originally published in 1916 and contains poems inspired by the tropical beauty of Panama's natural habitat. It also draws inspiration from the people, places and pictures of the country.