For me, Panama always brought to mind the canal, tales of American skullduggery, and sleazy, uniformed dictators called "The Pineapple". The word "ancient", usually applied to such places as Greece, Egypt or India, did not connect to Panama in my thoughts any more than it did to Wyoming. So it was with considerable curiosity that I bought Mary Helms' ANCIENT PANAMA. It turned out to be a little different than I imagined. This book is written for a handful of specialists, not for the general reader, not even for the fairly literate person interested in pre-Columbian history in a seldom-mentioned part of the New World. The style is "Heavy Academic", the pages clogged with vast numbers of references in parentheses, 18 pages of extensive footnotes to be found at the end. But, if you are searching for world-class expertise on aspects of Panamanian culture and society in the early 1500s, you have certainly come to the right place. Helms has carefully amassed a great amount of useful information on a very specific topic. She writes of political power and the system of chiefs that ruled the many small, rank-holding societies in Panana at the time of first European contact. Because information is exceedingly scarce, she uses (I assume) all the available Spanish sources of the time, writers who travelled in the area a century or more later, 19th century travellers' tales, more recent ethnological work done on the Cuna---the famous Panamanian Indian group still flourishing on the Caribbean coast---writers on Colombian Indian societies that may have resembled the ancient Panamanians, and even draws comparisons with Polynesian societies that also were divided into separate ranks. It is a very thorough job. Helms emphasizes that a chief had constantly to give evidence "of his personal ability to wield effective power." He did so by showing his far-flung connections to valuable goods (like golden ornaments, slaves, pearls or textiles) and to centers of religion and metaphysical thought. His personal knowledge and connection to people of knowledge also counted. To build this argument, the author slowly takes us through the location of various chiefdoms around Panama, their economic connections, the symbolism of design, color, and ornament, possible mythology (described on the basis of Cuna and other modern Indian myth), special language used by chiefs, and finally, the wider connection to northwestern Colombia and beyond. At the end of the book, the author suggests that eastern Panama and Colombia could be considered one cultural sphere and that perhaps Colombia---the more developed portion of this area---could have been the sources of gold products, prestige, and knowledge for the Panamanian chiefdoms. Maps, photos, and diagrams add to the wealth of knowledge provided. My criticism of this book is that it is not very readable. The reader must be fully committed to the subject: no "quarter" is given. For students of Panamanian or pre-Columbian history, this is a five star book, but for me, it was somewhat of a chore, though I readily admit I learned a lot. I would have liked to know much more, but the narrow scope did not allow for many questions. A land where iguanas represented the elite, while crocodiles stood for the masses deserves a more readable book. Dr. Helms ?