This is the third good book to appear on the formation and ratification of the 1977 treaties on the Panama Canal. William Jordan's Panama Odyssey (1984) traced the diplomacy; George Moffett, in The Limits of Victory (1985), analyzed the congressional battle; and Hogan now explores the language of the canal issue as a window on political culture and mythology. Hogan makes the good point that the ambiguity over what intervention rights the United States will have in the event of an emergency involving the canal after the year 2000 made acceptance of the treaties possible in the short run, while virtually assuring trouble in the long run.