I picked this book up thinking that I would like to read a factual, unbiased book detailing the history of my adopted home state. Boy was I wrong. I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone other than fiction devotees for a variety of reasons. Where do I begin?
1. A better title for the book would be "Finding RACISM in Florida" as that is pretty much the gist of the entire book. Every single incident of racism in the state of Florida for the last 500 years bears mention in this book.
2. Other events in Florida's history are either not mentioned at all or glossed over so quickly that he may as well have not mentioned them. Witness: Hurricanes are vaguely referenced, but never by name. Hurricane Andrew which blew ashore in South Florida in 1986 as a category 5 storm, and at the time was the costliest hurricane in US history. NO MENTION. Aileen Wuornos, America's first female serial killer caught in Daytona and later executed. NO MENTION. Daytona international speedway, major Nascar event on an annual basis. NO MENTION.
3. The author claims that early explorers wandered ashore to Florida seeing nothing but the abundant greenery, and that flowers were few and far between. Yet the territory was called "La Florida" which means "the beautiful flowers." Come on, you can't have it both ways.
4. The author flat out insulted another author, Carl Hiassen, by calling him a "classic Florida loser." Oh yes, he did. (page 335).
5. He referred to the manned space programs as "failing to fulfill any scientific purpose," but I suppose that the moon missions and the construction of the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope were just frippery? Regarding the Challenger Shuttle disaster, he suggested it was the fault of the fuel tank separating from the Shuttle (which occurs on every mission, safely), and only later reaches the conclusion that it was the fault of the rubbery O-rings. The Columbia Shuttle disaster he blames on outdated NASA computers and not the fact that the shuttle was destroyed re-entering the atmosphere because of some damaged tiles. Seriously, this is basic information which can be gleaned through basic research.
6. Getting back to racism, he stated that one couple in Miami was arrested in the 1960's for having an interracial relationship. Well, yes, but he exaggerated the details just a bit. I did my own research on the couple. He says they were arrested in 1963, my research says 1961. He said they got 30 days of hard labor, my research says they got 30 days in the county lock-up, which was probably lessened. Another black man was killed in Miami which spurred some race riots. He says that the man was just driving his motorcycle when he was pulled off the bike and beaten to death by rogue cops. He fails to mention that the motorcyclist had led police on a high speed chase through the streets of Miami. Now I'm not trying to say that the gentleman deserved to be beaten to death on the street, but the author makes it sound like the man was a law abiding citizen.
7. He goes on for seven pages talking about The Villages, which is a retirement community in central Florida, but completely glosses over the citrus industry in Florida. He also refers to the beachside condos and apartments as "high rise death traps" during hurricanes. I don't know about you, but I cannot recall a single incident in which one of those buildings has caused the deaths of people because of a hurricane.
Finally, because of the above problems mentioned, he has created a situation which in fiction is called an "unreliable narrator." Because he imparts the information in a skewed manner, I'm not sure how much or how far to believe him when it comes to historical information, going back all the way to Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto. He might be right on target, but based on the above information, I bet there are a lot of things that are a little out of left field.
PS I found it interesting to note that he cites a lot of strange sources in his bibliography, including Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Flipper.
1. A better title for the book would be "Finding RACISM in Florida" as that is pretty much the gist of the entire book. Every single incident of racism in the state of Florida for the last 500 years bears mention in this book.
2. Other events in Florida's history are either not mentioned at all or glossed over so quickly that he may as well have not mentioned them. Witness: Hurricanes are vaguely referenced, but never by name. Hurricane Andrew which blew ashore in South Florida in 1986 as a category 5 storm, and at the time was the costliest hurricane in US history. NO MENTION. Aileen Wuornos, America's first female serial killer caught in Daytona and later executed. NO MENTION. Daytona international speedway, major Nascar event on an annual basis. NO MENTION.
3. The author claims that early explorers wandered ashore to Florida seeing nothing but the abundant greenery, and that flowers were few and far between. Yet the territory was called "La Florida" which means "the beautiful flowers." Come on, you can't have it both ways.
4. The author flat out insulted another author, Carl Hiassen, by calling him a "classic Florida loser." Oh yes, he did. (page 335).
5. He referred to the manned space programs as "failing to fulfill any scientific purpose," but I suppose that the moon missions and the construction of the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope were just frippery? Regarding the Challenger Shuttle disaster, he suggested it was the fault of the fuel tank separating from the Shuttle (which occurs on every mission, safely), and only later reaches the conclusion that it was the fault of the rubbery O-rings. The Columbia Shuttle disaster he blames on outdated NASA computers and not the fact that the shuttle was destroyed re-entering the atmosphere because of some damaged tiles. Seriously, this is basic information which can be gleaned through basic research.
6. Getting back to racism, he stated that one couple in Miami was arrested in the 1960's for having an interracial relationship. Well, yes, but he exaggerated the details just a bit. I did my own research on the couple. He says they were arrested in 1963, my research says 1961. He said they got 30 days of hard labor, my research says they got 30 days in the county lock-up, which was probably lessened. Another black man was killed in Miami which spurred some race riots. He says that the man was just driving his motorcycle when he was pulled off the bike and beaten to death by rogue cops. He fails to mention that the motorcyclist had led police on a high speed chase through the streets of Miami. Now I'm not trying to say that the gentleman deserved to be beaten to death on the street, but the author makes it sound like the man was a law abiding citizen.
7. He goes on for seven pages talking about The Villages, which is a retirement community in central Florida, but completely glosses over the citrus industry in Florida. He also refers to the beachside condos and apartments as "high rise death traps" during hurricanes. I don't know about you, but I cannot recall a single incident in which one of those buildings has caused the deaths of people because of a hurricane.
Finally, because of the above problems mentioned, he has created a situation which in fiction is called an "unreliable narrator." Because he imparts the information in a skewed manner, I'm not sure how much or how far to believe him when it comes to historical information, going back all the way to Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto. He might be right on target, but based on the above information, I bet there are a lot of things that are a little out of left field.
PS I found it interesting to note that he cites a lot of strange sources in his bibliography, including Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Flipper.
