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Anyone who has ever traveled to Florida immediately assumes they've got the state figured out. It usually involves the common tropes we see splashed across news and social media: Disney, Miami, alligators, heat, retirees and weird people. As a result, very few people try to dig any deeper.
This book explores the darkest parts of Florida's past. These stories, told out in sequential order and broken down by theme, contain everything that has come to make up the Sunshine State: from the surprising, to the weird, to the horrifying, and, in some cases, inspiring. Topics covered include Florida in the Age of Exploration, pirates, Spanish colonialism, the Seminole Wars, slavery and race relations during the Civil War, Prohibition, segregation, disco and drugs, serial killers, economic ruin, urbanism, and Florida in the age of DeSantis.
List of contents
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction: Embracing the Darkness
¿1.¿Bounty, Belligerency and Bloodlust: Florida in the Age of Exploration
¿2.¿Dead Man's Chest: Florida's Flirtation with Pirates, Privateers and Pillagers
¿3.¿A Tale of Two Floridas: Spanish Twilight in the Era of American Expansion
¿4.¿Guerrillas in the Mist: Florida's Seminole Wars
¿5.¿In the Shadow of the Big House: Florida, Slavery and Race Relations During the Civil War
¿6.¿Florida Brews a Revolution
¿7.¿Boom! Goes the Landscape: Florida on the Brink
¿8.¿The Era of Blood and Retribution: Florida in the Days of Prohibition and Wise Guys
¿9.¿We Shall Overcome: Florida in the Dark Days of Xenophobia, Segregation and Purple Panic
10.¿Drugs, Disco and Decadence: Florida in the '70s and '80s
11.¿Blood and Riots: Serial Killers and Destruction in the Twilight of the Twentieth Century
12.¿Politics, Terror and Economic Ruin: Florida Leaves Its Mark on the World
13.¿Retirees of a Different Kind: Dictators and Death Leaders
14.¿Towns Like No Other: Florida's "New" Urbanism
15.¿Demagoguery, Disease and Division: Florida in the Age of DeSantis
Conclusion: A Trip Through the Darkness and Back
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Michael G. Hall is the executive director for the Augusta Downtown Alliance, a nonprofit affiliated with the Main Street America program, a subsidiary of the National Trust focused on economic development, marketing, community engagement, and art. His experience includes his on-site work with Historic Scotland, English Heritage, Sons of the American Revolution, and UNESCO World Heritage.
