Canal Dreamers

“Deeply researched, profoundly contextual, beautifully written, and filled with intrigue, Canal Dreamers immerses us in a moment of possibility and subsequent failure that transformed US–Latin American relations and shaped future canal-building efforts in the region.”—Hispanic American Historical Review

“What makes Canal Dreamers such a compelling read is the grandeur of the multinational drama at the center of Lepler’s narrative, which unfolds to reveal a complex web of personal and institutional relationships that enveloped the Atlantic World.”—H-Environment

“In elegant prose . . . [Lepler] builds a compelling historical saga that links the aspirations of Latin American nation-builders with those of outside powers. . . . Canal Dreamers is a cautious tale of hubris and ambition, yet it also shows the spread of visions and ideas during the Age of Revolutions.”—Pacific Historical Review

“Jessica M. Lepler’s riveting new book, Canal Dreamers, offers a road map for perceiving the sprawling directions infrastructural histories might take.”—William and Mary Quarterly

“Canal Dreamers is about something that did not happen. . . . This book, therefore, asks us to look beyond questions of success and failure, and take these ‘dreamers’ seriously on their own terms.”—Journal of the Early Republic

“Canal Dreamers succeeds not only in illuminating the speculative worlds that made canal building thinkable, but also in revealing the limits of those visions when viewed from the isthmus itself.”—Journal of Latin American Geography

“By focusing on an unbuilt canal, the book fills an important gap in the historiography of isthmian transit and demonstrates the historical power of unrealized infrastructure projects.”—Journal of Historical Geography