I am grateful to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“In the 1820s, there was a little-known quest to unite the world by building a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As new Spanish-American nations declared independence and canals intensified US expansion and British industrialisation, many imagined the construction of an interoceanic canal as predestined. With dreams substituting for data, an international cast of politicians, lawyers, philosophers, and capitalists sent competing agents on a race to transform Lake Nicaragua, the San Juan River, and the terra incognita of Central American forests into the world's first waterway.”

Extract from the publisher’s description of Canal Dreamers; The Epic Quest to Connect the Atlantic and Pacific in the Age of Revolutions.

I love history books about almost forgotten people and little-known events in the distant past. Events perhaps not making history but sometimes coming close and certainly influencing those who followed in their footsteps, often with great success and in different circumstances. This is one of those stories. In the 1820s, a century before the Panama canal was completed, there were people who planned to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via a river, a lake and a canal in what is now Nicaragua but then was the country of Central America. We know of course that this canal route was never realised. Nevertheless, the author presents a detailed and compelling historical saga of the people, events and circumstances associate with this potentially massive project. A ‘Dream’ to many and one that continues to inspire the region today.

The author does a wonderful job of bringing the story alive. The people of course, but also the context. The climate, the physical lands and waterways, the politics, cultures and issues of the day. Based on the detailed Acknowledgements and abundant Notes, a significant research effort has taken place. Access to multiple archives, located in many countries in several languages is one of the reasons for this successful book. The author also acknowledges numerous people who assisted in numerous ways.

Several issues contributed to the failure of the Central America canal project, not least the largely unknown geography of the region (not that this seems to be of great concern to many involved ! ). The author presents these in some detail to provide context to the saga, a grand venture possibly doomed to failure from the very beginning.

The author briefly presents the more distant history of the region in terms of cultures, exploration and colonialism. She then provides a detailed account of the countries and their relationships with each other as well as the external world.

Spanish rule was ending in Central and South America with new countries being defined and governments established. For much of the 1820s, the countries we now know in the region were essentially provinces in the much larger entity of Central America. Other external influences came from all directions. Simon Bolivar and newly independent states to the south and Mexican unrest and revolution to the north. Further abroad, the United States, some fifty years on from independence, is watching closely following the successful construction of the Erie Canal connecting the interior of the Great Lakes region with the Atlantic coast. It is a time when the Monroe Doctrine is influencing Foreign Policy, trade and territorial expansion on the American continent. Still a major international power at the time, Great Britain adds an element of competition to the canal project, as it attempts to play a role in financing the project. Conveniently making a profit, expanding trade and security for its far-flung empire.

The author paints a glorious picture of the colourful characters who populate this story. Apart from some very prominent US and Central American politicians, many are forgotten today, but fortunately for historians, they live on in copious hand-written (sometimes almost illegible !) letters, reports, diaries and other contemporaneous documents. These documents are truly enlightening, detailing not only the events of the day, but also providing private thoughts, ambitions, doubts as well as misunderstanding, mistakes and misconceptions.

Where there are gaps in the record, the author does not unnecessarily embellish. She seems to have an understanding of the major players and is able to gently suggest what may have been communicated or understood, thus providing the reader with a better perspective of what took place two hundred years ago. Helpfully she sometimes suggests multiple equally-likely scenarios for actions that are not documented.

Another aspect I found refreshing was the author’s style of presenting a largely fact-based (sometimes dryly humorous !) assessment of the events. An assessment formed not only from her archival research but also from the empathy and understanding of the main participants. No doubt many of these people are scoundrels, often racist and probably sexist. The author has not condemned them for adhering to the standards of the distant past. At the same time she treats the more uncomfortable issues such as slavery and the treatment of indigenous peoples with sensitivity and care.

Interestingly, one or two well-known US and Central American politicians seem to display sound judgement, good character and even considerable foresight, looking beyond the purely technical and commercial issues of the canal project. A few of these enlightened people actually considered the more sensitive issues such as a nation’s sovereignty, reputation and autonomy. Some fifty years on from US independence and at the very beginning of Central American independence, there seemed to be at least some US understanding of the wider issues confronting their newly formed neighbours.

Still, most individuals involved in this grand venture, in whatever profession and in whatever location, seemed to be mainly interested in signing contracts and making money regardless of the physical, commercial, political and cultural obstacles in the way.

The author takes us through many of these obstacles. While a map of the Central American region shows a relatively narrow isthmus, the physical complexities of transporting ocean-going ships from one ocean to another is ‘challenging’, to use an understatement. We learn of the different sea-levels of the oceans as well as the seasonal uncertainty of navigating rivers and lakes. And not least is the need to cut a canal to complete the passage where pre-existing waterways are absent. That most businessmen and politicians wilfully ignored or underestimated the physical realities is a key theme throughout the book.

In mostly chronological but overlapping topic-based chapters the author takes us on a journey of ambition, hubris , realpolitik and discovery. The forming and re-forming of Central American States. Colonial influence and ambition, mostly British with some remnants from the Europeans. The evolution and worldview of the United States as an independent Republic and regional power is constant throughout the book. Not only its politicians but also the businessmen, explorers and adventurers. Simultaneously, the US public, or at least the press, seemed fascinated with such a mega-project in a neighbouring land few knew and fewer had visited.

The reader will of course know the outcome from the beginning. There is no Central American canal until a hundred years later and located some hundreds of miles to the south. Nevertheless it is a compelling story of what might have been. The planning, finance, construction, management and ultimately ownership. Clearly there were valuable lessons for the much later Panama Canal.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a compelling tale of human nature and the physical world that often confronts large-scale infrastructure projects. For readers with a particular interest in Central American history, it is a book they will enjoy. A project that never happened by people mostly forgotten. A project that was a harbinger for the much later Panama Canal. But also, and perhaps more importantly, a cautious tale of ambition, hubris and associated shenanigans. A tale populated with politicians, businessmen, technocrats and visionaries. Some of whom might be just a little too eager to ignore or downplay the physical realities if they are counter to the realisation of their ‘Dream’. I wish the author all the very best with the publication of this fine book.