Locks, Crocs, and Skeeters: The Story of the Panama Canal Book

For more than 400 years, since the time of Charles V of Spain, people had dreamed about a canal that would carry ships from ocean to ocean across the Isthmus of Panama. The dream finally came true when on the fifteenth of August, 1914, the steamer Ancon, a cement boat, sailed quietly through the Panama Canal. But none of the dreamers could have forseen the disappointments, failures, suffering, and loss of life that surrounded the actual building of the canal. By skillfully combining poetry, history, concise biographies, and the dramatic story of the incredible way in which the deadly mosquitoes were conquered, Ms. Parker documents the creation of what has been called "the eighth wonder of the world."