ABOUT THIS BOOK

Critically acclaimed author Tom Miller reveals the making and marketing of one Panama hat, from the straw fields of Ecuador’s coastal lowland to a hat shop in Southern California. Along the way, the hat becomes a literary device allowing Miller to give us his impressions from the tributaries of the Amazon to the mountainsides of the Andes. The Panama Hat Trail is at once a study in global economics and a lively travelogue.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Tom Miller has been writing about Latin America and the American Southwest for more than four decades. His highly praised books include Trading with the Enemy and Revenge of the Saguaro, and his articles have appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian, LIFE, Rolling Stone, and Natural History, among other outlets. He is affiliated with the University of Arizona’s Center for Latin American Studies, and at a 2008 ceremony, the City of Quito proclaimed Miller Un Huésped Ilustre (An Illustrious Guest).

REVIEWS

“Among the best travel books ever written.”—National Geographic Traveler

“A fascinating view. Miller is a good story teller… his entertaining book puts a feather in the Ecuadorian straw hat.”—Christian Science Monitor

“There is Miller, rolling from one adventure to another, part Mark Twain, part Evelyn Waugh. . . . By the time you finish with the people and the places the author introduces you to, you will wish you had Tom Miller’s job. But then, you don’t have Tom Miller’s eyes.”—Phoenix New Times

“An almost novelistic adventure story.”—USA Today

— -

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface to the 2017 Edition
Map
Introduction

Part One
1. An Opening into Heaven
2. Cuenca by Night
3. With the Exporters
4. The Bus Plunge Highway
5. The City of Monkeys
6. Toquilla Sunrise
7. Revolution and Seafood
8. Montecristi Fino
9. The Visiting Judge
10. Carmita’s Peace Corps Bar and Grill
11. Red, White, and Blue Yellow Fever
12. Alfaro Lives

Part Two
13. To Market
14. Muscling in on the Sombrero Trade
15. Henry Miller’s Nephew
16. Biblián Weavers
17. Incas and Indians
18. “All We Have Is Ourselves and Our Straw”
19. Italian Specialty Cooks
20. Romancing the Hat
21. Travails
22. Cuy for Two
23. The 10,000 Hats of Adriano González
24. The Last Jews in Cuenca
25. Assembly Line

Part Three
26. Dead Drunk
27. Cruising with Olga
28. Sour Lake Oil
29. To Colombia
31. Madeline in Quito
32. Crossing the Line

Part Four
33. Production Line
34. Lasting Friendship

Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index