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Florida's Peace River Frontier
by Edgar Canter BrownThe economic, social, political, and racial history of southwest Florida in the nineteenth century For most of the nineteenth century, southwest Florida and the Peace River Valley remained a frontier as unknown to outsiders as the frontiers of the American West. In this book, Canter Brown, Jr. records the area’s economic, social, political, and racial history in an account of violence, passion, struggle, sacrifice, and determination. The Peace River originates in Polk County’s Lake Hamilton, one of the many lakes that dot the heart of interior Florida. It flows past the towns of Bartow, Fort Meade, Bowling Green, Arcadia, Fort Ogden, and Punta Gorda, finally meeting the sea at Charlotte Harbor on Florida’s southwest Gulf Coast. No great cities line its banks; no commerce passes along its waters. Still, the river has bent and molded events of lasting significance to Florida and to the nation. Using such primary materials as government records, manuscript collections, and newspapers published throughout the country, Brown documents the presence of Native Americans and African Americans in the area in the aftermath of the First Seminole War. He examines the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, paying particular attention to the Union/Confederate, Republican/Democratic split among the area’s residents. In the final sections of the book he describes the arrival of the railroad and the growth of towns, the phosphate boom, and consequences of the Great Freeze of 1895. Throughout this account, the author identifies by name hundreds of persons who participated in these events, believing, he says, that the stories of individuals and families are a vital part of the area’s history. Florida’s Peace River Frontier will appeal to readers interested in Florida history, the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, African American history, and the history of the American frontier.
Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes (Cultural Heritage Studies)
by Melissa F. BairdThis book explores the sociopolitical contexts of heritage landscapes and the many issues that emerge when different interest groups attempt to gain control over them. Based on career-spanning case studies undertaken by the author, this book looks at sites with deep indigenous histories. Melissa Baird pays special attention to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Burrup Peninsula along the Pilbara Coast in Australia, the Altai Mountains of northwestern Mongolia, and Prince William Sound in Alaska. For many communities, landscapes such as these have long been associated with cultural identity and memories of important and difficult events, as well as with political struggles related to nation-state boundaries, sovereignty, and knowledge claims. Drawing on the emerging field of critical heritage theory and the concept of "resource frontiers," Baird shows how these landscapes are sites of power and control and are increasingly used to promote development and extractive agendas. As a result, heritage landscapes face social and ecological crises such as environmental degradation, ecological disasters, and structural violence. She describes how heritage experts, industries, government representatives, and descendant groups negotiate the contours and boundaries of these contested sites and recommends ways such conversations can better incorporate a critical engagement with indigenous knowledge and agency. A volume in the series Cultural Heritage Studies, edited by Paul A. Shackel
The Architecture of James Gamble Rogers II in Winter Park, Florida
by Patrick W. McClane Debra A. McClaneExploring the life and career of one of Florida's premier architectsThis well-illustrated book illuminates the life and career of one of Florida's premier architects, whose elegant homes and design aesthetic shaped the architectural character of Winter Park and influenced urban development throughout central Florida.James Gamble Rogers II (1901-1990) created homes known for their human scale and proportion and for their suitability to the environment. This work highlights twelve of these residences designed for Winter Park, the beautiful small city adjacent to Orlando and the headquarters of the Rogers family architecture firm, Rogers, Lovelock, and Fritz, which exists today under the leadership of Rogers' son. Ingeniously meeting the special needs of Florida's climate—heat, humidity, termite control, and air circulation--the residences incorporate details from a variety of historical styles, including eccletic and authentic features that emulate vernacular Spanish farmhouses and villas.The book includes critiques of each design and its evolution, particulars about the site, and stories about the lives and tastes of the clients—men and women of wealth and status who influenced the heady era of the Florida land boom in the 1920s and 1930s. Numerous floor plans, modern and historical photographs, and Rogers' own drawings augment the discussion.The book also presents an entertaining biography of Rogers, with information on his schooling, a history of the firm he founded, and his familial connections with the architectural profession (his uncle and namesake designed more than 20 buildings for Yale University). It describes his success in the areas of governmental, military, and university architecture, including his designs for buildings at Rollins College in Winter Park, and evaluates his impact on 20th-century architecture in Florida and throughout the nation.Coauthors Patrick and Debra McClane have studied Rogers' original drawings, toured his homes, and interviewed clients and family members; Patrick McClane worked at the Rogers firm during the architect's last years there and brings a personal connection to this work. Their book documents an exceptional contribution to Florida's architectural heritage, the life and work of a man who created stylish and desirable homes and distinctive public buildings.With a detailed appendix that lists dates and addresses for nearly 275 houses, most of them still extant, the work will serve as the definitive guide to Rogers' work in Winter Park.
Zora Neale Hurston and American Literary Culture
by M. Genevieve WestInvestigating why Hurston's writing fell out of favor during her lifetime only to be appreciated years after her death"Genevieve West's impressive new study clearly documents the course of Zora Neale Hurston's remarkable literary career and her rise from near obscurity at the time of her death to acknowledgment in the 1990s as the foremost writer of the Harlem Renaissance."—Cary D. Wintz, Texas Southern UniversityGenevieve West examines the cultural history of Zora Neale Hurston’s writing and the reception of her work to explain why Hurston died in obscure poverty only to be reclaimed as an important Harlem Renaissance writer decades after her death. Unlike other books on Hurston, this study focuses on how Hurston was marketed and reviewed during her career and how literary scholars reappraised her after her death.While her publisher's approach to marketing Hurston as an African American fiction writer and folklorist increased her popularity among the general reading public, her fellow Harlem Renaissance authors often excoriated her as an exploiter of African American culture and a propagator of Black stereotypes. Eventually, the criticism outweighed the popularity, and her writing fell out of fashion. It was only after critics reconsidered her work in the 1960s and 1970s that she eventually regained her status as one of the best writers of her generation. No other book has focused on this aspect of Hurston's career, nor has any book so systematically used marketing materials and reviews to track Hurston's literary reputation. As a result, West's study will provide a new perspective on Hurston and on the ways that the politics of race, class, and gender impact canon formation in American literary culture.This study is based on numerous interviews, short fiction previously undocumented in Hurston scholarship, an innovative analysis of advertisements and dust jackets, examinations of letters by and about Hurston, and the examination of historical/literary contexts, including the Harlem Renaissance, the protest movement, the assimilationist movement, the Black Arts movement, and the rise of Black feminist thought.
Sugar Baron: Manuel Rionda and the Fortunes of Pre-Castro Cuba
by Muriel McAvoyChoice Outstanding Academic TitleThe story of a tycoon in the sugar industry and an in-depth view of Cuba's economy before the RevolutionSugar Baron is the story of Manuel Rionda (1854-1943), who immigrated from Spain to Cuba as a boy of 16 to become a dominant operator in the international sugar trade and to stand at the crossroads of U.S.-Cuban economic relations. Through an examination of Rionda's career as founder of the Cuba Cane Sugar Corporation and of New York's major sugar brokerage firm, Muriel McAvoy gives us an in-depth history of Cuba's sugar industry and its economy during the first half of the 20th century.McAvoy examines the dilemmas of development and the constraints of financial dependency, probing the inside story of how both Wall Street's and Cuba's political elite viewed the crucial economic problems facing the island and how they attempted to solve them. In great detail, she elucidates conflicts among the various economic sectors in both Cuba and the United States, providing unique and often corrective insights.Stressing the significance of the Cuban elite in furthering and profiting from the development of Cuba as a sugar enclave, Sugar Baron shows that Rionda and the other hacendados did much to ensure that a single export would dominate their island's economy, enriching themselves in the process. Challenging the view that U.S. capitalism reduced Cuba's businessmen to helpless pawns, McAvoy provides a clearer view of the responsibility for events between the Spanish-American War and the triumph of Castro's revolution.
Florida's Paved Bike Trails
by Jeff Kunerth Gretchen KunerthSince the release of the first edition of Florida’s Paved Bike Trails, the Sunshine State has added more than 200 miles of multiuse asphalt and concrete paths. This updated edition of the best-selling guide to bicycling in Florida adds twenty-three new trails to an already impressive roster, offering cyclists—as well as rollerbladers, joggers, and walkers—vital details on over sixty trails across Florida. From where to find parking, water, restrooms, and benches, to how to reach nearby beaches, restaurants, museums, and other attractions, the authors expertly guide readers through Florida’s beautiful terrain.
The American Beach Cookbook
by Marsha Dean PheltsFrom its founding in 1935 to the present, trips to American Beach have meant good times, good friends, and great food. Located on Amelia Island in northeast Florida and established by the Pension Bureau of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, American Beach today is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains a beloved vacation destination as well as a year-round home for many African Americans. For The American Beach Cookbook, Marsha Dean Phelts has collected nearly 300 recipes passed down through generations. Over the years, many influences have found their way into the dishes and are represented here by everything from pig's feet to sweet potato pone and from smothered shrimp to bourbon slushes. Mouths will water at such treats as fried cheese grits, she-crab soup, seafood casserole, crab coated shrimp chops, cornbread dumplings, chicken curry, corn relish, pickled peaches, Big Mama's fruitcake, and much more. In addition to the recipes, readers will enjoy compelling vignettes that illustrate the heritage of people and potables, vintage photographs, and area maps that together tell one of the great stories of a unique community.
André Michaux in Florida: An Eighteenth-Century Botanical Journey
by Walter Kingsley Taylor Eliane M. NormanRetracing the eighteenth-century Florida exploration of botanist Andre Michaux The name Michaux often appears in the plant names of Florida, from the endangered yellow violets that grow wild in the panhandle to the Florida rosemary of the scrub. Andre Michaux (1746-1803) was one of the most extraordinary and dynamic individuals of early explorations in North America and the first trained botanist to explore extensively the wilderness east of the Mississippi River, including Spanish East Florida. This first book-length account of Michaux's Florida exploration combines his original journal with writings about him by later authors, historical background, and the author's own narrative to create a multifaceted, comprehensive treatise on Michaux's travels and discoveries in Florida.Beginning with a biographical sketch on the life of Andre Michaux, royal botanist for King Louis XVI of France, the authors retrace (using 16 maps) the exploratory routes he took in Florida and recount historical events occurring in Florida at the time. They include in full documentary form all the plants he discovered, collected, and observed and fully assess his findings so that his contributions can now be evaluated along with those of better-known botanists of whom much has been written, such as John Bartram and his son William--who acknowledged the Frenchman's abilities, writing that Michaux could traverse the same ground that he and his father had covered and find plants that they had missed.From a historical as well as a botanical perspective, Andre Michaux in Florida re-creates the Florida exploration of a remarkable explorer and observer and allows us to experience vicariously the vibrancy and joy of his journey of discovery.
America's Fortress: A History of Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Florida (Florida History and Culture)
by Thomas ReidA little-known Civil War outpost that was the most heavily armed coastal defense fort in United States historyKnown as the “American Gibraltar,” Fort Jefferson, located in the Dry Tortugas, Florida, was the most heavily armed coastal defense fort in United States history. Perceived as the nation’s leading maximum-security prison, the fort also held several of the accused conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. America’s Fortress is the first book-length, architectural, military, environmental, and political history of this strange and significant Florida landmark. This volume also fills a significant gap in Civil War history with regard to coastal defense strategy, support of the Confederacy blockade, the use of convicted Union soldiers as forced labor, and the treatment of civilian prisoners sentenced by military tribunals. Reid argues that Fort Jefferson’s troops faced very different threats and challenges than soldiers who served elsewhere during the war. He chronicles threats of epidemic tropical disease, hurricanes, shipwrecks, prisoner escapes, and Confederate attack. Reid also reports on white northerners’ perceptions of enslaved people, slavery, and the emerging free black soldiers of the latter years of the war. Drawing on the writings of Emily Holder, wife of Fort Jefferson’s resident surgeon, Reid is the first to offer a female perspective on life at the fort between 1859 and 1865. For history buffs and tourists, America's Fortress offers a fascinating account of this little-known outpost which has stood for over 160 years off the tip of the Florida Keys.
Beechers, Stowes, and Yankee Strangers: The Transformation of Florida (Florida History and Culture)
by John T. Foster Sarah Whitmer FosterThe story of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Beecher in Reconstruction FloridaModern Florida—a world of tourists, retirees from the North, and novel agricultural crops—began among a group of Yankee reformers at the end of the Civil War, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and her brother, Charles, who lived in Florida between 1867 and 1885. This book tells the story of the group—and their designs for a postwar Florida—with the action, atmosphere, and insight of a good novel.Arriving in Florida nearly two decades ahead of Henry Flagler, the Beechers found a state inaccessible to outsiders with small remnants of a slave economy. As part of the work of Reconstruction, they dreamed of making the state a haven for freedpeople and progressive northerners unhampered by the rest of the South’s racial divisions. Settling near Tallahassee and Jacksonville, they worked with Florida’s First Lady, Chloe Merrick Reed, to better education, religion, economics, social and racial relationships, and politics, and they were instrumental in the transformation of Jacksonville from a small seaport to a vibrant city.Despite continuing interest in Harriet Beecher Stowe, her years in Florida have remained obscure; even less is known about Charles Beecher during this period. Using fresh materials that have never been recorded by the Stowe Center (a major repository of Stowe’s works), John and Sarah Foster fill an important gap in the lives of these celebrated reformers and shed new light on Florida’s history during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age.A volume in the Florida History and Culture series, edited by Raymond Arsenault and Gary R. Mormino
The Calusa and Their Legacy: South Florida People and Their Environments (Native Peoples, Cultures, and Places of the Southeastern United States)
by Darcie A. Macmahon William H. MarquardtA journey into the history and cultural traditions of the Calusa people of south FloridaThe Calusa were a powerful native people on the Gulf coast, their influence spanning south Florida and lasting well into the European invasion. The Calusa and Their Legacy tells the story of the Calusa in relation to the unique environment that sustained them with abundance. This fascinating history is enhanced with illustrations created by artists at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, where an exhibition has interpreted this story since 2002. Locating the keys to Calusa prosperity in the mudflats, sea grass beds, and mangrove forests of Florida’s Gulf coast estuaries, archaeologists Darcie MacMahon and William Marquardt explore the world of the Calusa in vivid detail, from single-celled algae, oyster bars, and southern stingrays to remnant fishing nets, pottery, and woodcarvings. Linked closely to their extraordinary and plentiful ecosystem, the Calusa survived for centuries as an artistic and complex people defeated only by the ravages of disease, wars, slavery, and displacement. Calusa traditions survive to the present day among the coastal fisherfolk and the vibrant cultures of Native Americans in south Florida—the Seminole and Miccosukee peoples. The Calusa and Their Legacy with encourage the appreciation and stewardship of south Florida’s multicultural history and ecology. A volume in the series Native Peoples, Cultures, and Places of the Southeastern United States
From Rights to Economics: The Ongoing Struggle for Black Equality in the U.S. South (New Perspectives on the History of the South)
by Timothy J. MinchinExamining the African American struggle for economic parity in the South after the 1960sRich with the voices of Black and white southern workers, From Rights to Economics shows how African Americans have continued fighting for economic parity in the decades since the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.Using oral histories and case studies that focus on Black activism throughout the entire South, award-winning historian Timothy Minchin examines the work of grassroots groups—including the Southern Regional Council and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund—who struggled with the economic dimensions of the movement.While white workers and managers resisted integration, activists' efforts gradually secured a wider range of job opportunities for Black people. Minchin shows, however, that the decline of manufacturing industry in the South has been especially difficult for the African American community, wiping out many good jobs just as Black people were gaining access to them.Minchin also offers a detailed discussion of a major school integration battle in Louisville, Kentucky, and examines the role of affirmative action in the ongoing Black struggle.A volume in the series New Perspectives on the History of the South, edited by John David Smith
War Owl Falling: Innovation, Creativity, and Culture Change in Ancient Maya Society (Maya Studies)
by Markus EberlAn archaeological exploration of the role of creativity and invention in the ancient Maya civilizationDrawing on archaeological findings from the Maya lowlands, War Owl Falling shows how innovation and creativity led to social change in ancient societies. Markus Eberl discusses the ways eighth-century Maya (and Maya commoners in particular) reinvented objects and signs that were associated with nobility, including scepters, ceramic vessels, ballgame equipment, and the symbol of the owl. These innovations, he argues, reflect assertions of independence and a redistribution of power that contributed to the Maya collapse in the Late Classic period. Eberl emphasizes that decision-making—the ability to imagine alternate worlds and to act on that vision—plays a large role in changing social structure over time. Contextualizing these decisions in his "Garden of Forking Paths" model, Eberl shows how innovators were those individuals who imagined an array of possible futures and negotiated power to reach desirable outcomes. He dissects the social underpinning of Maya creativity by illustrating their situated method of learning via observation and imitation, stressing that societal constraints or opportunities dictated whether members' ideas were realized. Pinpointing where and when Maya inventions emerged, how individuals adopted them and why, War Owl Falling connects technological and social change in a novel way. A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase
Making Caribbean Dance: Continuity and Creativity in Island Cultures
by Susanna SloatExplore the vibrant and varied dance traditions of the Caribbean islandsCaribbean dance is a broad category that can include everything from nightclubs to sacred ritual. Making Caribbean Dance connects the dance of the islands with their rich multicultural histories and complex identities. Delving deep into the many forms of ritual, social, carnival, staged, experimental, and performance dance, the book explores some of the most mysterious and beloved, as well as rare and little-known, dance traditions of the region.From the evolution of Indian dance in Trinidad to the barely known rituals of los misterios in the Dominican Republic, this volume looks closely at the vibrant and varied movement vocabulary of the islands. With distinctive and highly illuminating chapters on such topics as experimental dance makers in Puerto Rico, the government's use of dance in shaping national identity in Barbados, the role of calypso and soca in linking Anglophone islands, and the invented dances of dance-hall kings and queens of Jamaica, this volume is an evocative and enlightening exploration of some of the world’s most dynamic dance cultures.
A Civil War Gunboat in Pacific Waters: Life on Board USS Saginaw (New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology)
by Hans Konrad Van Tilburg"An epic shipwreck tale. Sacrifice and heroism are recounted in a comprehensive study of a ship that embodied America's role in the nineteenth-century Pacific as Yankee enterprise helped open Asia to trade. Well-researched, well-written, this book also takes readers for the first time intoSaginaw's long-lost grave beneath the sea."--James P. Delgado, president, The Institute of Nautical Archaeology "An impressive study of a naval vessel from construction to destruction."--William Still Jr., author of Crisis at Sea The USS Saginaw was a Civil War gunboat that served in Pacific and Asian waters between 1860 and 1870. During this decade, the crew witnessed the trade disruptions of the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the transportation of Confederate sailors to Central America, the French intervention in Mexico, and the growing presence of American naval forces in Hawaii.In 1870, the ship sank at one of the world's most remote coral reefs; her crew was rescued sixty-eight days later after a dramatic open-boat voyage. More than 130 years later, Hans Van Tilburg led the team that discovered and recorded the Saginaw's remains near the Kure Atoll reef.Van Tilburg's narrative provides fresh insights and a vivid retelling of a classic naval shipwreck. He provides a fascinating perspective on the watershed events in history that reshaped the Pacific during these years. And the tale of archaeological search and discovery reveals that adventure is still to be found on the high seas.
New Dawn for the Kissimmee River: Orlando to Okeechobee by Kayak
by Doug AldersonFirst-Place Winner, Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Award Exploring and chronicling a restored river in the heart of Florida The Kissimmee Valley, which includes the Kissimmee chain of lakes and Kissimmee River, covers an area from Orlando to Lake Okeechobee. The headwaters and grand gateway to the Everglades, the area is the domain of the alligator and bald eagle, snail kite and spoonbill, stretching more than 100 miles through central Florida.Between 1960 and 1971, the Army Corps of Engineers straightened and diverted the river’s flow to control persistent flooding. These alterations shortened the length of the Kissimmee, significantly reduced wildlife populations, and created a lucrative real estate market that further threatened native species. In 1992, Congress acted to restore the river to its original flow.In the spring of 2007, Doug Alderson joined an expedition down the Kissimmee chain of lakes and the newly restored river. The group witnessed firsthand the recovering bird populations, spotted otters, turtles, alligators, and other wildlife that make up the hidden beauty of this part of Florida.In New Dawn for the Kissimmee River, Alderson uses this twelve-day paddling excursion as a thread to explore the history and ecology of the region, while highlighting the most successful restoration project of its kind in the world, the model for the overall Everglades restoration plan.
Florida Under Five Flags
by Rembert W. PatrickFirst published in 1945, this concise history of Florida commemorated the state's centennial anniversary and was the very first book issued by what was then called the University of Florida Press. Reissued numerous times, its status as a seminal text in our state's history has never been questioned. Even today, copies are difficult to find. As part of the state-wide celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of "La Florida," we are pleased to reissue this facsimile edition of one of the most cherished books ever published by the University Press of Florida.In this highly readable account, Rembert Patrick, the first of many giants among Florida historians, summarizes Florida's history under the flags of Spain, France, Great Britain, the Confederacy, and the United States. Distilling five centuries of history, Patrick chronicles Florida's evolving identity: from discovery and settlement to its role under the changing fortunes of European powers, from establishment as a territory to an antebellum state, from the Civil War and Reconstruction to an urban, post-World War II economic juggernaut.
Picturing Black New Orleans: A Creole Photographer's View of the Early Twentieth Century
by Arthé A. AnthonyThe visual legacy of Florestine Perrault Collins, who documented African American life in New Orleans Florestine Perrault Collins (1895-1988) lived a fascinating and singular life. She came from a Creole family that had known privileges before the Civil War, privileges that largely disappeared in the Jim Crow South. She learned photographic techniques while passing for white. She opened her first studio in her home, and later moved her business to New Orleans’s Black business district. Fiercely independent, she ignored convention by moving out of her parents’ house before marriage and, later, by divorcing her first husband.Between 1920 and 1949, Collins documented African American life, capturing images of graduations, communions, and recitals, and allowing her subjects to help craft their images. She supported herself and her family throughout the Great Depression and in the process created an enduring pictorial record of her particular time and place. Collins left behind a visual legacy that taps into the social and cultural history of New Orleans and the South.It is this legacy that Arthé Anthony, Collins's great-niece, explores in Picturing Black New Orleans. Anthony blends Collins's story with those of the individuals she photographed, documenting the profound changes in the lives of Louisiana Creoles and African Americans. Balancing art, social theory, and history and drawing from family records, oral histories, and photographs rescued from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Anthony gives us a rich look at the cultural landscape of New Orleans nearly a century ago.Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Investigating the Ordinary: Everyday Matters in Southeast Archaeology (Florida Museum of Natural History: Riple)
by Sarah E. Price Philip J. CarrShifting the focus to everyday life in the archaeology of the Southeast USFocusing on the daily concerns, activities, and routine events of people in the past, Investigating the Ordinary argues for a paradigm shift in the way southeastern archaeologists operate and urges them to think of the archaeological record in new ways. Instead of dividing archaeological work by time periods or artifact types, the essays in this volume unite separate areas of research through the theme of the everyday. The contributors to this volume bring together case studies detailing ordinary people and their lives, spanning the Paleoindian period to the nineteenth century. The essays include an examination of how the white-tailed deer was entangled in the lives of Middle Archaic people not only as a food source but as a social and spiritual creature, as well as a look at the domestic lives of those who made exotic goods for the political and social elites in the Middle Woodland period. Cooking vessels in the Late Archaic period help trace the daily lives of the many people involved in their production, use, and eventual deposition. Mound sites are reconsidered in light of the everyday--assessing not only the meaning of the sites but the mobilization of labor and the deployment of resources that went into creating them. Taken together, these essays demonstrate that attention to everyday life can help researchers avoid overemphasizing data and jargon and instead discover connections between the people of different eras. This approach will also inspire archaeologists with ways to humanize their research and engage the public with their work and with the deep history of the southeastern United States. A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series Contributors: Philip J. Carr | Sarah E. Price | D. Shane Miller | Jesse Tune | Christopher B. Rodning | Jayur M. Mehta | Bryan S. Haley | Lance Greene | Kandace D. Hollenbach | Stephen B. Carmody | Ashley A. Dumas | Christopher R. Moore | Richard W. Jeffries | Asa R. Randall
Al Burt's Florida: Snowbirds, Sand Castles, and Self-Rising Crackers (Florida History and Culture)
by Al BurtFlorida Trust for Historic Preservation Award Florida Historical Society Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Book Award A tour of twentieth-century Florida through the writing of a roving reporter"Some say that Floridians lack a sense of place—they won’t after reading Al Burt."—Ann Henderson, Former executive director, Florida Humanities CouncilAs a roving reporter for the Miami Herald from 1973 to 1995, Al Burt traveled all of Florida, studying it with the insight of a native and the detached eye of the foreign correspondent he had been. During those years, he observed connections with the state’s past and speculated about its future, and, while he was at it, took note of the human frailties and heroisms he witnessed every day. Al Burt's Florida is like a family portrait, a loving but not uncritical view of a complex and fascinating state.Burt's portrait combines vignettes of notable Floridians—some famous at the time, like Ed Ball, but most better known locally—with those of the state’s many special places: Okeechobee in the teens and twenties, Miami Beach in the fifties (when dinner in Havana was only a $26 plane ride away), Wakulla Springs when it served as Johnny Weismuller’s Tarzan movie set, modern-day Tallahassee with its formality and grace.Al Burt himself emerges from this landscape as the remarkable, engaging, and passionate Floridian he is. He takes us in hand, starting from his headquarters in the north Florida scrub, on a tour of the charm, substance, and fantasy of Florida, yesterday and today. And always, he dwells with greatest affection on the smaller places, the real places, the anchors of old Florida—and on those folks who do their best to preserve them. In the process he captures a sense of Florida as home.A volume in the Florida History and Culture series, edited by Raymond Arsenault and Gary R. Mormino
Florida's Space Coast: The Impact of NASA on the Sunshine State (Florida History and Culture)
by William B. Faherty"An important, interesting study of the relations between the Kennedy Space Center and the communities of Brevard County, Florida."--Roger D. Launius, chief historian, NASA, Washington, D.C."This outstanding book provides readers of Florida history our first insight into the impact that high technology has had on the state. Brevard County is a veritable laboratory for understanding what happens when space science and engineering put down roots in a wilderness setting. Faherty's writing is direct, simple, even folksy at times. I devoured it!"--Michael Gannon, author of Pearl Harbor Betrayed and A Short History of FloridaFlorida&’s Space Coast tells the compelling story of America's half century in space exploration, from the successful launch of the first two-stage rocket in 1950 through the latest space shuttle missions of 2000. Told from the unique viewpoint of the people who built the Spaceport, this book shows how the space program transformed the east central Florida coast from a traditional citrus production and tourist area to one of the most influential high-tech centers in the nation.Cape Canaveral was chosen as a missile launch site because of its many geographical advantages. However, in the early years of the space program, the area was far from an ideal place for NASA employees to raise their families. NASA brought in thousands of space-related workers, who, besides sending machines and men into space, had to meet the challenge of moving their families from urban environs to a rural southern county. This book engagingly recounts the parallel stories of the establishment of America's space program and its impact on the development of Brevard County.William Barnaby Faherty is professor emeritus of history at St. Louis University and director of the Museum of the Western Jesuit Missions in Hazelwood, Missouri.
Castles in the Sand: The Life and Times of Carl Graham Fisher (Florida History and Culture)
by Mark S. FosterThe definitive biography of the famous developer of Miami Beach"The definitive biography of one of the most energetic, versatile entrepreneurs of the early 20th century. In masterminding the development of the Indianapolis Speedway and Miami Beach, Fisher played a major role in teaching adult Americans how to play."--James Crooks, University of North FloridaIn the booming early years of the 20th century, few entrepreneurs rivaled Carl Fisher (1874-1939) for sheer energy and imagination. Born in Indiana, he began as a bicycle racer and salesman, made his first fortune perfecting and marketing the automobile headlight, helped build the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and headed promotion of the Indy 500, and was a moving force behind the development of the Lincoln and Dixie highways, America’s first improved transcontinental roads. But all of these accomplishments were only prologue to his grandest adventure, as primary developer and promoter of Miami Beach.This definitive biography of Fisher, abundantly illustrated and written in an engaging style, captures the headiness of the period. Mark Foster traces Fisher’s transformation of the South Florida landscape into a tourist’s dream of golf, polo, deep sea fishing, and luxury hotels and his animation of that dream with bronzed lifeguards, bathing beauties flashing new swimsuit styles, and visiting dignitaries who generated a stream of tantalizing headlines.Foster also treats Fisher’s troubles with labor and with Miami businessmen, his attempted development of Montauk on Long Island, New York, and the collapse of the entire Fisher enterprise in the wake of the 1926 hurricane and the great stock market crash of 1929. Throughout, he sets Fisher’s insights, triumphs, loves, and shortcomings into the context of the early 20th century.This biography of a great corporate builder reveals the emergence of a new American way of life. The man whose genius for promotion turned a swampy spit of land into a luxurious urban locale also framed aspirations of leisure and entertainment for generations of Americans.
Ritual, Discourse, and Community in Cuban Santería: Speaking a Sacred World (Contemporary Cuba)
by Kristina WirtzAn insightful ethnographic account of the lives of Santería practitioners in CubaHow do Santería practitioners in Cuba create and maintain religious communities amidst tensions, disagreements, and competition among them, and in the absence of centralized institutional authority? What serves as the "glue" that holds practitioners of different backgrounds together in the creation of a moral community? Examining the religious lives of santeros in Santiago de Cuba, Wirtz argues that these communities hold together not because members agree on their interpretations of rituals but because they often disagree.Religious life is marked by a series of "telling moments"—not only the moments themselves but their narrated representations as they are retold and mined for religious meanings. Long after they occur, spiritually elevated experiences circulate in narratives that may express skepticism or awe and hold the promise of more such experiences. The author finds that these episodes resonate in gossip and other forms of public commentary about the experiences of their fellow Santería practitioners.Drawing on ethnographic research about Santería beliefs and practices, Wirtz observes that practitioners are constantly engaged in reflection about what they and other practitioners are doing, how the orichas (deities) have responded, and what the consequences of their actions were or will be. By focusing their reflective attention on particular events, santeros re-create, moment to moment, what their religion is. Wirtz also argues that Santeria cannot be considered in isolation from the complex religious landscape of contemporary Cuba, in which African-based traditions are viewed with a mix of fascination, folkloric pride, and suspicion. Interactions among the conflicting discourses about these religions—as sacred practices, folklore, or dangerous superstitions, for example—have played a central role in constituting them as social entities. This book will interest scholars of religion, the African diaspora, the Caribbean, and Latin America, as well as linguistic and cultural anthropologists.
Chaucer from Prentice to Poet: The Metaphor of Love in Dream Visions and Troilus and Criseyde
by Edward I. CondrenA comprehensive reevaluation of Chaucer's early poetry, from the "dream visions" to Troilus and CriseydeWhile covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, Chaucer from Prentice to Poet seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. Edward Condren provides new and provocative interpretations of the three "dream visions"—Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, and House of Fame—as well as Chaucer's early masterwork Troilus and Criseyde. Condren draws an arresting series of portraits of Chaucer as glimpsed in his work: the fledgling poet seeking to master the artificial style of French love poetry; the passionate author attempting to rebut critics of his work; and, finally, the master of a naturalistic style entirely his own. This book is one of the few works written in the past century that reevaluates Chaucer's early poetry and the only one that examines the Dream Visions in conjunction with the Troilus.It should frame the discourse of Chaucer scholarship for many generations to come.
Missions to the Calusa (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series)
by John H. HannA compilation of historical documents written by Europeans during the colonization of southwest FloridaWhen Europeans arrived in southwest Florida in the early sixteenth century, they encountered a complex and powerful society. The Calusa have posed an enigma to many anthropologists and historians. This work provides missing information on the ethnography of the Calusa, a society that inhabited the area of Florida now known as Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. This compilation of historical documents includes many reports never before translated into English, including letters from Pedro Menéndez, reports from King Charles II and governors, bishops, and soldiers, and eyewitness testimony from priests and laypersons about mission efforts from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries.John Hann introduces Spanish contact with the Calusa from the early seventeenth century, focusing particularly on the ill-fated Franciscan attempt in 1697 to convert the Calusa to Christianity. His voluminous documentation for this effort is particularly valuable for its description of the role played by the Crown in instigating the mission despite little enthusiasm from religious authorities.A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series