CONTEXTS - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 455

iards to defeat them, focusing on the Welsh privateer Henry Morgan and his exploits along
the Caribbean coast, and culminating in the sack of Panama in 1671.
John Esquemeling The Pirates of Panama: True Account of the Famous Adventures and
Daring Deeds of Sir Henry Morgan and other Notorious Freebooters . Based on a lively
firsthand account originally written in Dutch, the first English edition was published in 1684.
The author was barber surgeon to Henry Morgan and accompanied him on his notorious ex-
pedition against Panama City.
Aims McGuinness Path of Empire: Panama and the Californian Gold Rush . A look at the
key role played by the isthmus during the Gold Rush in the mid-1800s as the fastest link
between New York and San Francisco, the consequences of building the Panama Railroad
and the first of many military interventions by the US.
Andrew Parkin Flames of Panama: The True Story of a Forgotten Hero, Pedro Prestán . A
dramatized true story of a man of mixed race from Cartagena who rose to eminence in Colón
as a lawyer and became a Member of the Assembly only to be hanged as a leader of the rebel
forces, falsely accused of burning Colón to the ground in 1885. A poignant tale that would
have worked better as a factual account.
John Lindsay Poland Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of the US in Panama . A
human rights campaigner and investigative journalist explores the role of the US military in
Panama and the dubious uses to which it put the land it acquired.
John Prebble The Darien Disaster . Highly detailed and often turgid exploration of the
doomed attempt by the Scots to colonize the Darién. The minutiae, such as the numbers of
cases of rum loaded onto the ships, obscure the depth of the tragedy that bankrupted Scot-
land.
John Week and Phil Gunson Panama: Made in the USA . Written in 1991, this much-praised
analysis of the 1989 American invasion of Panama and its historical background deals with
the legal implications and political consequences, while shining a light on the part Noriega
played leading up to the attack.
ART AND CULTURE
James Howe Chiefs, Scribes and Ethnographers: Kuna Culture from Inside and Out . Written
by a professor of anthropology who has spent considerable time among the Guna over a
35-year period, this recent book deals with accounts that the Guna chiefs themselves have
given of their life and culture. Like his previous books - A People Who Would not Kneel;
Panama, the United States and the San Blas Kuna and The Kuna Gathering; Contemporary
Village Politics in Panama - it's a serious but rewarding read.