France. Power. Money. Betrayal.
In the late nineteenth century, one of the world’s most ambitious engineering projects became one of history’s greatest political corruption scandals.
The Panama Scandal uncovers the dramatic rise and catastrophic fall of the French Panama Canal Company—an empire built on prestige, speculation, and deception. Behind the promise of a canal that would unite oceans lay a hidden world of bribed ministers, manipulated newspapers, compromised courts, and financial ruin.
Author Evan Blackmoor reveals how a national dream turned into a devastating collapse that destroyed fortunes, shattered public trust, and exposed the alliance between political power and private wealth.
With the tension of a political thriller and the depth of meticulous historical research, this book shows how modern corruption was not invented in our time—it was perfected more than a century ago.
Millions lost everything.
The powerful protected themselves.
And the rules of public scandal changed forever.
The Panama Scandal is more than forgotten history.
It is the origin story of the world we still live in.
Volume I of The French Scandals Files
