A “carefully researched” account of the rise and fall of notorious dictator Manuel Noriega—and America’s role in both (The Washington Post). Written by a prize-winning NPR veteran who spent years covering Latin America, this blend of biography, history, and political reporting details the events that lead to the American invasion of Panama. “Describes in considerable detail the fascinating and appalling relationship between Noriega and the U.S. government. Much of this material was derived from previously classified documents, supplemented by Congressional hearings and interviews. [John] Dinges has taken great care to verify his sources; hearsay, gossip, and questionable testimony is not presented here . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal “Most of the action takes place in Panama, of course, but it is still very much a Washington story. Few of the characters, from President Bush on down, emerge with dignity intact.” —The New York Times “One of the best analyses of American foreign policy failures in Panama.” —The New Republic A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

Manuel Noriega is the only American prisoner of war. He may be a demon in the eyes of most Americans, but he has a unique and alarming view of the secrets behind U.S. relations with Panama and the real reasons for the 1989 invasion that removed him from power. In this memoir, certain to be one of the most newsworthy and controversial of the year, Noriega describes for the first time his backstage dealings with George Bush, Oliver North, William Casey and the CIA, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro and Moammar Gahdafi. But this is more than a deposed strongman's tell-all that some might find hard to believe. Noriega's story was investigated independently by Peter Eisner, a top foreign correspondent who has written about Latin America for twenty years and covered Noriega's fall for Newsday. Eisner's reporting finds support for some of Noriega's assertions and provides additional perspective for others, in his conduct as head of Panama's military, his secret dealings with Cuba on behalf of the CIA, his relations with key U.S. officials, and the unconscionable damage inflicted upon the people of Panama by the U.S. invasion. Moreover, Eisner raises new questions about the allegations that Noriega was a drug dealer and a murderer. In fact, he concludes Noriega is not guilty of these charges. And then there is Noriega himself, a surprisingly savvy military man who saw himself as a nationalist, an honest broker between his allies in U.S. intelligence and his neighboring Latin American leaders. As Noriega tells it, his problems began when he began to resist the Reagan administration's efforts to fight communism in Central America. America's Prisoner is one of the most unusual and important accounts everwritten about U.S. aggression and duplicity. It is the story of how we have imprisoned a man - and a nation.

Emperors in the Jungle is an exposé of key episodes in the military involvement of the United States in Panama. Investigative journalism at its best, this book reveals how U.S. ideas about taming tropical jungles and people, combined with commercial and military objectives, shaped more than a century of intervention and environmental engineering in a small, strategically located nation. Whether uncovering the U.S. Army’s decades-long program of chemical weapons tests in Panama or recounting the invasion in December 1989 which was the U.S. military’s twentieth intervention in Panama since 1856, John Lindsay-Poland vividly portrays the extent and costs of U.S. involvement. Analyzing new evidence gathered through interviews, archival research, and Freedom of Information Act requests, Lindsay-Poland discloses the hidden history of U.S.–Panama relations, including the human and environmental toll of the massive canal building project from 1904 to 1914. In stunning detail he describes secret chemical weapons tests—of toxins including nerve agent and Agent Orange—as well as plans developed in the 1960s to use nuclear blasts to create a second canal in Panama. He chronicles sustained efforts by Panamanians and international environmental groups to hold the United States responsible for the disposal of the tens of thousands of explosives it left undetonated on the land it turned over to Panama in 1999. In the context of a relationship increasingly driven by the U.S. antidrug campaigns, Lindsay-Poland reports on the myriad issues that surrounded Panama’s takeover of the canal in accordance with the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty, and he assesses the future prospects for the Panamanian people, land, and canal area. Bringing to light historical legacies unknown to most U.S. citizens or even to many Panamanians, Emperors in the Jungle is a major contribution toward a new, more open relationship between Panama and the United States.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Legacy of Spies and The Night Manager, now an AMC miniseries He is Harry Pendel: Exclusive tailor to Panama’s most powerful men. Informant to British Intelligence. The perfect spy in a country rife with corruption and revolution. What his “handlers” don’t realize is that Harry has a hidden agenda of his own. Deceiving his friends, his wife, and practically himself, he’ll weave a plot so fabulous it exceeds his own vivid imagination. But when events start to spin out of control, Harry is suddenly in over his head—thrown into a lethal maze of politics and espionage, with unthinkable consequences. . . . Praise for The Tailor of Panama “Entertaining . . . a riotous, readable novel . . . A worthy successor to Graham Greene’s most wicked entertainments.”—The New York Times “Riveting . . . Le Carré has cut another masterpiece.”—Los Angeles Times “What makes le Carré the reigning grand master of espionage fiction? . . . Craft, certainly; he maintains an almost magnificent control of material, pace, dialogue, characterization.”—The Baltimore Sun “Brilliant . . . Le Carré remains fair in front of his field, a startlingly up-to-date storyteller who writes as well about the shadows around the power elite as anyone alive.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Panama Canal was the costliest undertaking in history; its completion in 1914 marked the beginning of the “American Century.” Panama Fever draws on contemporary accounts, bringing the experience of those who built the canal vividly to life. Politicians engaged in high-stakes diplomacy in order to influence its construction. Meanwhile, engineers and workers from around the world rushed to take advantage of high wages and the chance to be a part of history. Filled with remarkable characters, Panama Fever is an epic history that shows how a small, fiercely contested strip of land made the world a smaller place and launched the era of American global dominance.

As the Panama Canal turns one hundred, Newbery Honor winner Margarita Engle tells the story of its creation in this powerful new YA historical novel in verse.

Kempe recounts the history of the United States' relationship with Noriega from his recruitment by the CIA to his capture in 1990. He examines why and how the United States became involved with the Panamanian dictator and how the involvement has affected its standing in Latin America.