Based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of US government agencies, namely, the States, War, and Navy Departments and the Canal Zone administration, this is a comprehensive history of US policy towards the Panama Canal.

Prize Possession is a comprehensive history of U.S. policy toward the Panama Canal between 1903 and 1979, focusing on five key themes: the Canal's defense and its place in American strategy; the Zone's autocratic system of government; its strictly segregated labor force; its commercial development at the expense of Panama; and the equally controversial issue of U.S. intervention in Panamanian politics. The book is based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of U.S. government agencies, namely the State, War, and Navy Departments, and the Canal Zone administration, as well as on the papers of notable dramatis personae such as Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Philippe Bunau-Varilla.