The Panama Railroad /

Payne (formerly, Ulster Univ., UK) offers a detailed treatment of the construction of the first interoceanic rail link: the nearly 50-mile Panama Railroad. His coverage involves more than the actual building process that occurred between 1849 and 1855. Payne divides his account into four distinct sections: "Construction," "The Workers," "The Irish," and "Epilogue." As he details, the isthmus undertaking became an epic struggle. Railroad personnel struggled through swamps, rainforests, and topography, and encountered outbreaks of cholera in 1852 and yellow fever a year later. These factors explain why, in terms of cost per mile, this project became the most expensive and deadly railroad built up to the time of its opening. The workers, who numbered about 17,500 men, constituted "one of the modern world's first multinational labor forces." A sizeable number hailed from the US, including a large contingent of Irish-born laborers, and several hundred emigrants arrived directly from the workhouse in Cork, Ireland. Payne has created a monumental study based on painstaking research, which debunks various myths about the construction period. This clearly written work contains five useful appendixes together with illustrations and maps. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty. --H. Roger Grant, Clemson University