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W. B. Garvey is a
relative of the famous pan-Africanist and Jamaican National
Hero, Marcus
Garvey. While going through his deceased father's papers,
Garvey learned that his grandfather had been a railroad engineer
who worked on the Panama Canal during its construction. That
revelation sparked years of research and correspondence that led
to the writing of Panama Fever: Digging Down Gold Mountain.
A classically-trained violinist, W.B. Garvey has performed
as soloist with renowned symphony orchestras and as a recitalist
in major U.S. concert halls. Garvey has appeared with the New
York City Opera and the Black Music Repertory Ensemble and made
studio recordings with major artists such as Frank Sinatra,
Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett and Wynton Marsalis as well as
playing for over a hundred film scores including Martin
Scorsese's Age of Innocence, Spike Lee's Malcolm X
and Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo. W.B. Garvey
was born in Los Angeles and is a graduate of the University of
Southern California. He has lived in Kingston, Jamaica, and
London, England, and currently resides in New York City.
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A Story of Love, Ambition and Corruption |
Panama Fever:
Digging Down Gold Mountain
Click to order Directly
from Publisher or via
Amazon
Hardcover: 320
pages
Publisher: Jonkro Books; First edition (August 6, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982229402
ISBN-13: 978-0982229408
Read an Excerpt
“A finely orchestrated work that
combines meticulous research into the history of the building of
the Panama canal, with stories of the courageous West Indian men
and women who laboured to build it. W.B. Garvey has created a
vivid and moving testament to some of history's unsung heroes
and heroines.”
— Lorna Goodison, author of
From Harvey River and
Tamarind Season
A Story of Love, Ambition, and Corruption
Panama Fever brings to life the triumphs
and tragedies of the men and women who left their homes and
loved ones to fulfill the dream of building the Panama Canal. A
thrilling adventure, crackling with action and adventure, W. B.
Garvey’s historical novel tells the story of two young men
seeking their destinies against the backdrop of the titanic
construction of the canal as they confront the catastrophes of
earthquake, disease, political corruption and murderous
insurrection, while finding love in unlikely places.
Comments of W.B. Garvey on why he wrote
Panama Fever:
Although the discovery that my
grandfather, a man I knew little of and had never met, had
been a railroad engineer in Panama was the catalyst which
led me to write Panama Fever, it was Marcus Garvey’s widow,
Amy Jacques Garvey who planted the seeds of interest in the
heroic Jamaicans who over multiple decades helped to build
and maintain the historic Panama Canal.
I was a scruffy schoolboy living in Kingston when the
refined Mrs. Garvey used to invite me for tea. She had
recently finished Garvey and Garveyism, her loving biography
of her distinguished husband and her memories of his work
and their dramatic life together were like vivid crystal.
She was clearly pleased by my eagerness to hear stories
about my famous relative and seemed determined that I grasp
both the essence and the complexities of her great man. I
remember her stressing that it was the abuse of his Jamaican
countrymen working in Panama that convinced Marcus Garvey to
start the Black nationalist movement that would finally
“destroy the old slave mentality.” She was adamant that
although it took French brains and American money to
conceive the Panama Canal, it was West Indian sweat and
blood that built it, something which the world at that time
refused to acknowledge. Looking back, I suppose Panama Fever
is in some small way my thank you to dear Amy Jacques for
those inspiring afternoon teas.
Before I learned about my grandfather’s work in Panama I had
assumed that the Jamaicans working on the canal had all been
common laborers. As I would discover, the symbiotic tie
between the isthmus and Jamaica dated from the 1840's when
the California Gold Rush spurred North American investors to
build the Panama Railroad. Jamaica, being close by and
inhabited by underemployed English speakers, became a handy
source of cheap labor. By the time the French began their
failed canal effort, there was a ready pool of workers to
enlist, not only as diggers but also as stenographers,
cooks, carpenters, mechanics and engineers.
Panama Fever narrates the adventures of two young Jamaicans
who seek glory by joining the French in their valiant but
vain attempt to build the canal during the 1880s. The two
protagonists, Thomas Judah and Byron, find themselves caught
up in a cycle of political corruption, murderous
insurrection, natural disaster, and deadly disease. A story
of love, ambition and corruption that explores the
antagonisms of class, nationality, race, and gender, Panama
Fever brings to life the experiences and tragedies of those
who worked on the monumental Panama Canal project.
I originally wrote Panama Fever as a saga covering both the
French and American periods, with different, although
related, main characters in each period. I later decided
that the story could be better told as two linked novels,
each of which also stands alone as a complete story. The
second novel, forthcoming soon, focuses on a Jamaican
engineer and his wife during the American period of canal
construction, when Jim Crow laws were introduced to the
Canal Zone.
Related Links
W. B. Garvey Official Website
www.wbgarvey.com
Jonkro Books Website
...dedicated to telling the forgotten stories of the unsung men
and women who labored in the shadows, often unseen. Their
profoundly human experiences and lives still speak to us now and
give us the courage to make our own dreams a reality.
www.jonkrobooks.com
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