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From Library Journal

Though offering perhaps more about Panama hats than the reader might ever want to know, this is a satisfying travel book that tells much else about Ecuador and its peoples. The growing, harvesting, and processing of straw, the weaving of it, the finishing of the hats, exportation, and all the bartering along the way is the glue that holds this book together. Visiting the countryside and towns such as Quito, Guayaquil, Lago Agrio, and Jipijapa ("among the ugliest towns south of the equator"), Miller tells us, among other things, about the Indians and their sad centuries-long plight, expatriates, illegal Ecuadorian emigration to the United States, precarious third-class Andean bus trips, the small Jewish community, and a wild and tragic Corpus Christi fiesta. Maps, index, and glossary not seen. Recommended for most travel collections. Roger W. Fromm, Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Hardcover: 271 pages

Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (July 1, 1986)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0688063950

ISBN-13: 978-0688063955

Package Dimensions:

8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds

Average Customer Review:

4.3 out of 5 stars

26 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#1,231,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

This is a dynamic travelogue revealing much about Ecuador and its people as well as a study in global economics from the making of the Panama Hat. As a shaggy hat body from the Andes for $.65, it would become part of mainstream American commerce at a wholesale cost of $18.75. The author’s travels reveal both the history of the making of the hats as well as the process they use to produce them. From “Straw Hats—Their History and Manufacture,” by Harry Inwards, London, 1922: “Claims are made that in the Province of Manabi, a native named Francisco Delgado first made a Panama hat about 300 years ago….then he goes on to reveal that “making of`` grass fiber hats in the Western Hemisphere was…of the most remote antiquity.” I first traveled through Ecuador in the late 1970s, fresh out of Peace Corps Guatemala and returned with various donor groups over a twenty-year period. I found Miller’s journey revealing and informative, as well as relaxing. I also appreciated his dry wit as well as the obvious empathy for the people he encountered along the way.Those of us who have backpacked through Latin America could only chuckle at Miller’s checklist prior to boarding one of the local buses:1. Look at the tires….Visible threads on the tires means a blowout is imminent.”2. Does the bus have at least one windshield wiper?3. You can’t check the bus for brakes. Once I asked a driver in Guatemala about the brakes on his bus. “Look,” he said, “the bus is stopped isn’t it?”One chapter provides insights into some of the historic nuances of the country. “When you mention Guayaquil, the people of Quito snicker. Monos, monkeys, live there. Uncouth sacrilegious, lazy, no modesty or commitment to family or God. They lack ambition, culture, and spirituality….Quito and Guayaquil have so little in common they appear as if on different planets…”During his trek, the author makes some interesting side trips, including a trip into the jungle area in search of the impact of the growing oil industry, which is dominated by foreign corporations. He quotes the French sociologist, Claude Levi Strauss, who observed, “A continent barely touched by man lay exposed to men whose greed could no longer be satisfied by their own continent.” The Ecuadorian native Indians who live in the central highlands of the Andes make most of the hats, but according to the author, are at the bottom of the “social heap,” planting corn, harvesting potatoes.A story within a story emerges when the author veered from his Panama hat trail to check out the border to the north with Colombia. He came across several towns in this relatively isolated part of the country that reflected a new level of prosperity due at least partially to an “overflow from some of the world’s most productive coca cultivation and processing operations nearby.” In one raid in 1984 northeast of Puerto Colon, almost fourteen tons of cocaine were discovered! According to Miller, “The sleepy stretch of the San Miguel between the two countries, so friendly and easy to travel, turned out to be one of South America’s major drug highways.”Like many “Travel” authors, Miller provides some insights into the countries they pass through. He identified a “loss of national identify” not limited to tourist literature or straw hats and refers to the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, when ABC anchorman Peter Jennings briefly praised each country as its standard-bearer entered the Memorial Coliseum. When Ecuador’s flag came on, he summed up this lack of identity with, “The conquistadores stopped in Ecuador. They didn’t find enough riches, so they moved on.”He also highlights Moritz Thomsen, author of the “best English-language books about Ecuadorans coping with life at the bottom,” entitled, “Living Poor.” He went on to say that Moritz would agree with Robert Byron in defending traveling writers whose books insult their hosts: “Somebody must trespass on the taboos of modern nationalism, in the interest of human reason. Business can’t. Diplomacy won’t. It has to be people like us.” Miller ended this pithy segment of his book with, “To me, Ecuador had been a country with its head in the clouds, its heart on its sleeve, and it’s growing to the ground.”I’ve been fortunate enough to meet the author, and learned where our paths exploring the magical country of Ecuador had crossed over the years. I also became aware of, and recommend, his acclaimed adventure books including this one, as well as “On the Border” about his travels along the U.S.-Mexico border; “Trading with the Enemy,” which takes place in his favorite country, Cuba, and “Revenge of the Saguaro,” which takes place in the American Southwest.Miller has appeared in The New Yorker, LIFE, The New York Times, Natural History, and many other publications. He wrote the introduction to Best Travel Writing – 2005, and has led educational tours through Cuba for the National Geographic Society and other organizations. I’d agree with the National Geographic Traveler that this book is “among the best travel books ever written.”

Part travel log part Panama hat history, this book was a blast to read.Learned so much about the way straw fedoras/Panama’s are made, that they come from Ecuador not Panama and just how handcrafted they are by generations of artisans etc.Gave me a whole new appreciation for why straw hats cost what they do and a new dimension of admiration for them.

That Panama Hat is not from Panama! I am heading to Ecuador this summer and this book really helped set the stage for my trip. It is a well-written, insightful look at Ecuadoran culture from the viewpoint of the Panama hat development and production. But this is far more than about hats. Its about the indigenous peoples, the pride of craftmanship, the risk of losing individual artisans to mass production, the impact of the multinational corporations on local cultures and some of the internal conflicts within Ecuadoran society. Lest this should sound like a potential dull read it is not! Quite to the contrary, it is lively and engaging in the skilled hands of Tom Miller.. in fact I will probably read it again before my trip.

Fascinating book about the straw hat industry in Ecuador. Who knew that the Panama hat really came from Ecuador?!? Made me appreciate these hats and the women that make them. I read it while on a trip to Ecuador which made it more interesting.

Panama Hat was highly recommended for those traveling to Ecuador & it does give you the flavour of another time there. Miller liked what he was doing & he coveys it in effortless prose. The events took place in the 80s & I suspect this is a long ago world at this point. However, the traffic to macchu Picchu & the Galapagos is right there. So it's an interesting, well written history of the region, with well chosen quotes from different historical travelers & history books.So far, as I am not finished reading it yet, it is an easy, comfortable read which I recommend with no reservations. & I'd like to end up with a collection of Panama hats, as Miller apparently has.

If you're interested in Ecuador this is a "must read" book. I really enjoyed the book. I like hats, too, but the book is even better for its Ecuadorian history and culture. A well written book of Ecuador, its culture and history. He writes in a nice and easy style. I was disappointed in Ecuador to see very few men wearing this hat and the book explains the history behind their aversion.

Entertaining and helped me know something about Panama hats which originated in Ecuador.

I very much enjoyed this book as a lead-up to my visit to the home of the Panama Hat, which as you should know is...Ecuador! Although the book was written a number of years ago, the information about the hats, the country and the people appears to remain accurate. Mr. Miller's style and the details he includes kept me engaged all the way through (and made me, I'd like to think, a more knowledgeable visitor and hat buyer!)

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