Florida Books

When the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan went into effect during the Clinton administration, Florida's great grassy wilderness garnered a host of national attention -- and has since become a breeding ground for environmental dispute. What does it take to "save" a forest? How can it be preserved?

Enter W. Hodding Carter. For an Outside magazine feature he's agreed to paddle the ninety-nine-mile waterway in Everglades National Park to examine the landscape from all angles -- physical, political, cultural, and very personal -- and get to the rock-bottom heart of the story. Stolen Water is the outgrowth of Carter's journey.

Through investigative research, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with key players in the conservation controversy, Carter offers a rare portrait of a national treasure. Utterly important, and at times downright hilarious, Stolen Water is a classic American adventure tale, and an environmental parable for our time.

The author's newest book is:
Off the Deep End

Hodding Carter loves the Everglades and Stolen Water: Saving the Everglades from Its Friends, Foes, and Florida reflects this affection as much as it reflects arguments on both sides covering the management and utilization of the wilderness. From restoration plans for the Everglades to author Carter's own quest through the region to consider both its history and future, Stolen Water provides some hard-hitting facts about the real friends and foes of the area.

from Ron David, author of ARABS & ISRAEL FOR BEGINNERS

The writer William Gass once described a book as "so good you don't judge it, it judges you." SWIMMING UP THE TIGRIS by Barbara Nimri Aziz is that kind of book. Like most other writers on the Middle East I have focused so intently on America's two military invasions of Iraq that I misjudged the near-fatal impact of the economic sanctions on the Iraqi people.
Aziz describes (or to be more accurate, allows the Iraqi people to describe) the various ways in which the sanctions and embargoes devastated Iraq more deeply than the 1990-91 Gulf War. To grasp the enormity of that charge, bear in mind that the U.S. dropped more bombs on Iraq during the first Gulf war than were dropped on three continents during all of World War Two.
In brief, self-contained chapters Aziz shows the incredible resilience of the Iraqi people and their determination not to let their identity as a people be erased by America's casual brutality. In order to survive the sanctions Iraq rebuilt and literally reinnvented its economy, its medical system, even its oil industry --and unfortunately, its attitude toward America.
Aziz resembles the Nobel Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison in her refusal to accept the obvious answer to any question. (Has anyone but Aziz argued that the sanctions and embargoes hurt Iraq more than the bombs?) Another thing Aziz has incommon with the magnificent Ms. Morrison is her uncanny ability to find the truth in terms of what is not there. Example: One of the most beautiful and harrowing chapters in the book is Aziz's observation that the defining characteristic of Iraq's playgrounds is the absence of children. (Just silence.)
The poem by Lisa Suhair Majaj that introduces the chapter "Empty Playgrounds" is called "Arguments." It is, in itself, worth the price of the book.
Given the current political atmosphere in the U.S. --the drum-beating for a war or sanctions with/on Iran-- SWIMMING UP THE TIGRIS is required reading if we want to avoid the same mistakes with Iran we made with Iraq.
A beautiful, truthful book.

If you believe, as I do, that the war against Iraq is one of the most important issues facing people in the US and world-wide, then you must read this book.

Independent journalist Barbara Nimri Aziz traveled throughout Iraq, beginning in 1989 in the days after the end of the Iran/Iraq war and up until the most recent disastrous invasion and brutal occupation. Her quest as an anthropologist was to document Iraqi society. She became a reluctant war correspondent.

This book documents the terrible years of grinding deprivation that was Iraq under the deadly US/UN sanctions. Why look at that period? Because everything that is happening today is rooted in the merciless sanctions period where more than 1.5 million people perished unnecessarily.

Every family in Iraq was touched. Everybody there would never be the same. Aziz writes brilliantly and compassionately about the people of Iraq, the ones we never hear from. The ones whose destiny is tied up with ours so completely.

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As an archaeologist, I often wish there were better ways to bring the past to life, as it were. The best archaeology should illuminate the past in a way that brings the people of past human cultures into reality for the modern observer; all too often, lack of information about people and individuals render this goal elusive.

This book, by William Keegan of the Florida Museum of Natural History, is one of the best efforts I have ever read to bring a past human culture, and past human individuals as well, to life. Keegan's study, focusing on the archaeological sites associated with several Taino caciques - chiefs - weaves myth, history, archaeology, personal experiences with modern people of the Caicos Islands and with modern researchers, into a fascinating, convincing narrative. Focusing on Guacanagari, the cacique who allied with Columbus and the Spanish at first contact, and Caonabo, the "stranger king" of the narrative who opposed the Spanish, Keegan makes a convincing case for having found the site of Caonabo's home - thus bringing not just a past culture but a unique individual to life for the modern reader.

Keegan's book is a must-read for all archaeologists who want to understand how true "postprocessual" archaeology can and should be done, and it is a fascinating interpretation of the sites and people associated with the discovery of the New World for any reader. I strongly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in understanding the role of myth. belief, and thought in the creation of human culture.

Archaeologists who cannot go beyond archaeology are just grave diggers. And Bill Keegan's recent work entitled Taino Indian Myth and Practice is an impressive effort to go beyond to enter the world of ethnohistory, mythology and linguistics and return the amerindian past some of its humanity. But more so when his attention is focused on the life and deeds of an individual, taino chief Caonabo of Maguana, who just happens to be the first american leader to oppose european conquest as early as 1493 in what was to be called Hispaniola. Caonabo is the first heroe for all of America. The interdisciplinary approach to history is the only intelligent way to recuperate the past with its human meaning. My congratulations !

This is a unique book. To call it a cookbook is limiting. Lots of great recipes that I haven't seen anywhere else. Plus it has interesting stories to go along with every recipe and ingrediant. A must have for any chef.

Vicki Oppenheimer's opening words about her cherished, eighty-year-old recipe cards immediately identify her as one who understands those aged recipe boxes and the memories that can be found in each of them. This spry 90-something author is a resident in the city I call home--Naples, Florida. When I reviewed her book On the Nature of Food, a little more than a year ago, I was fascinated by her determination to write and publish a book at her age. I was also drawn to her love affair with food and recipes because of my own personal project involving recipes from several generations of my family.

The Taste Makers is a fascinating look at food from "the New World. Foods that, when introduced to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, saved millions of people from starvation and enormously increased the entire world's food resources and tremendous population growth."

This book is filled with all sorts of interesting trivia and history for various foods we consider commonplace. For instance, did you know that nearly 60% of the world's diet has its origin in New World plants? How about the fact that the cultivation of spice plants precedes the beginning of history? Or that Europeans in the early history of the potato did not embrace the potato as a form of sustenance. Potatoes were thought to be for "naked savages only," and there were rumors that the potato could cause leprosy. The tomato was originally a weed with little red fruits that grew between the maize and beans.

Also, Mayan farmers planted corn, squash, and beans on mounds called milpahs. They worshipped these three foods as the"three sisters of life." The Spaniards initially rejected chocolate. Once they embraced it, chocolate became a well guarded secret enjoy only by the aristocracy and clergy long before it became popular with the general population.

Each chapter is dedicated to an essential New World food that gained prominence in the Old World kitchens. Following much of the interesting data listed above, the reader learns of the many cultures and countries that were key in the food's place in history. Recipes of all sorts adorn the ending pages of each chapter. Sometimes, helpful hints--how to peel peppers, when to use chili oil, the proper way to blanch edible pods, etc.--also are provided.

This book is a wealth of history, recipes, helpful information, nutritional benefits, and fun food trivia. Oppenheimer rounds out her book with a chapter on "Food Fashions" through the ages. She writes, "If you look at the table of contents you will see that the recipes here are largely made up of grains, fruits and vegetables, with modest quantities of meat, fish, and dairy products. They require little time for preparation, they are made up of easily accessible ingredients and they constitute the healthiest diet in the world. Because so many of them stem from the peasant diets of other centuries, they are in general inexpensive and hearty. They delight my taste buds and I hope they will delight yours."

Yes, Vicki, many of the recipes DO delight my taste buds! I have tried at least one or two recipes from each chapter, and not once was I disappointed!

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Anyone involved in running for a congressional seat, working on a congressional election or just interested in national politics will find this book enormously interesting. It's short. It's down to earth. It's up-to-date. And, it's one of the best on the subject. Professor Jacobson's book features pertinent analysis of national survey data plugged into long-term electoral trends. It covers all you need to know about how to make a run for Congress, calculating your odds and the chances of knocking off an incumbent. It is a unique blend of academic effort and practicality that is continually useful. It is the very best on what to expect in congressional elections for the U.S. House and Senate.

This is one of the best and most valuable political science texts I have ever read - and, as a political science major, self-confessed politics junkie and activist, I've read most of them. Gary Jacobson's research is unmatched and his findings are essential to anyone who wants to get involved in Congressional campaigns. His assessment of the role of money in such campaigns is astounding and discomforting. While the going gets dry at times, overall the book is a good read with very practical applications today.

--Bill Arnone

Despite its long history at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, no one has yet written a comprehensive history of the NAACP, largely because it would be impossible to do so in a single volume. In TICKET TO FREEDOM, Manfred Berg focuses on the NAACP's struggle for the right to vote, from its founding in 1909 until the early 1970's. Along the way, he addresses many of the criticisms (and myths) surrounding the organization: is it a grassroots or "top down" organization? Did it embrace anticommunism to the detriment of the movement? Did it simply create a "racial spoils system" which ensured privileges for those who did not need them?

You'll have to read the book yourself to find the answers, but rest assured that will be smooth sailing. Berg's narrative style is fluid and compelling, revealing a resourceful and dynamic organization which has done much to open up the electoral process to greater black participation.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

Manfred Berg's "Black Civil Rights and Liberal Anticommunism: the NAACP in the Early Cold War" investigates the NAACP and its ties to communism during the beginning of the Cold War. Berg explains that some historians have claimed that the NAACP set back the civil rights movement by twenty years by participating in the purges of communists within its organization. They claim that by aligning themselves with the anticommunist Truman administration they damaged the credibility of the organization. Berg claims conversely, that the NAACP's adherence to anticommunism in fact saved the organization from almost certain political suicide.

Following the Second World War, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) became caught in the mass hysteria of anti-communism which marked the beginning of the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union. The NAACP's efforts to end racial discrimination against African Americans in the U.S. had garnered criticism from white conservative politicians who claimed that the NAACP's rhetoric was communist in nature. Soon the NAACP found itself in a difficult position of having to choose between political freedom within the organization and the
organization's survival.

The NAACP was formed in 1909 by philanthropic white socialists and educated African American activists. Initially NAACP leaders like W.E.B Du Bois did not agree with the communist rhetoric. Du Bois claimed that African Americans were excluded from the American proletariat and therefore were not able to participate in the "Great Proletarian Revolution." The political climate changed however after the beginning of Great Depression. Some NAACP delegates believed that for African Americans to achieve progress, they needed to improve their socio-economic class.

Soon a divide developed between NAACP leaders developed. Leaders disagreed whether the best way to secure civil rights for African Americans was to concentrate on ending racial discrimination or that the problem was rooted in a deeper socio-economic class struggle which was afflicting the whole of American society. In his article, "Black Civil Rights and Liberal Anticommunism: the NAACP in the Early Cold War" Manfred Berg claims "The NAACP expected racial change to result from political reforn1s not from revolutionary class struggle."

The American Communist Party (CPUSA) began spreading their propaganda among African Americans Communism became an attractive political movement all long African Americans and some NAACP members. The CPUSA claimed that it was against racial discrimination and that African Americans were the victims of white chauvinism. Ideological clashes began between conservative elements of the NAACP who believed that the NAACP should focus solely on the point of racial discrimination versus the communist sympathizing elements of the NAACP and other civil rights organizations. The NAACP and the International Labor Defense (ILD), a communist affiliated organization clashed over the Scottsboro case of 1931 in which nine black youths were accused of raping two young white girls.

The NAACP underestimated the importance of the case to the cause of civil rights while the ILD offered the nine boys a legal defense team. Even though eight of the boys were sentenced to death, the IDL was successful in having four of the boys acquitted while the remaining five were eventually pardoned. The Scottsboro case cemented the distrust between conservative NAACP leaders and the CPUSA.

With the beginning of the Cold War following the end of the Second World War, the U.S. began its campaign to spread the ideals of democracy abroad in hopes of combating the spread of communism and Soviet influence. The U.S. began receiving criticism from the Soviet Union and other nations as to its unwillingness to end racial segregation and promote democracy within its own borders. Similarly, the U.S. was criticized for its unwillingness to pressure its allies France and the U.K. to end their rule over their segregated colonies abroad.

W.E. Du Bois petitioned the U.S. delegation to the U.N. to call for a resolution which would end racial discrimination world wide. Some had their reservations about what the saw as a move which might hurt the U.S. politically. Even one of the NAACP's most esteemed board members former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt thought that a call for racial equality within the U.N. would discredit the U.S. abroad. White conservative politicians claimed that Du Bois and the NAACP were attacking their own country and that it was part of a communist led conspiracy against America. Du Bois remained adamant that a call for racial equality within the U.N. was needed. Conservative NAACP leaders felt that Du Bois had become too radically left and thought that his praising of the Soviet Union as a model state was damaging to their cause. More disagreement followed as Du Bois and the NAACP leadership clashed over the NAACP's public support for President Harry Truman in the 1948 presidential election. Du Bois and his likeminded colleagues supported former vice-president Harry Wallace's candidacy for President. In the wake of "McCarthyism" and anticommunist hysteria, conservative NAACP leaders were desperate to distance the organization from communist elements. Because Harry Wallace was seen as the champion for socialists and communist sympathizers, NAACP leaders chose to align themselves with Truman and the moderate left. The NAACP began efforts to separate itself from suspected communist elements within the organization. Members who espoused communist rhetoric were questioned and some were expelled from NAACP membership.

Berg claims that although these tactics infringed upon the members right to free speech, it was a necessary tactic for the NAACP to survive within the age of McCarthyism. Berg also claims that since the question of civil rights had taken a
backseat to the issues of national security and Cold War politics, it is doubtful that any petitions for civil rights would have made a significant impact on the American political scene.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

Tommie Turtle's Secret is indeed a "delightful" book. I enjoy reading it myself! The rhyming is fun for all. The illustration's are wonderful. But the best part of the book is Mr. Hicks ability to get across lessons to children that are so needed in our society today. Those lessons about being a friend to others and finding the special qualities you have and can use in life are priceless. You will love Tommie!

As a retired teacher, who can't stop teaching, I substitute with PreK through 8th grade students. I take in my bag a copy of Tommie Turtle's Secret by Robert Z. Hicks to read. Children of all ages love Tommie. They enjoy the mystery of Tommie's secret, the author's autograph and picture, and the questions at the end of the story. These questions promote various levels of thinking.

Within the pages of the book are lessons on values; accepting limitations; recognizing and developing abilities; tolerance; friendship; etc. Seems each time I read Tommie another lesson is evident.

I recommend Tommie for Children of all ages. Tommie would be a great gift to find under the Christmas tree this holiday season.

What a delightful volume ! I live on Florida's Sun Coast and was so pleased to find its virtues extolled with such a succint and easily read book. I was amazed at how much local lore I had missed that was right in my own backyard.

The maps and clear directions make this an invaluable aid to anyone choosing our fair state

Al Rice

This is a wonderful down-to-earth guide book. In addition to the better known tourist attractions, the writers tell you about the lesser known attractions, such as museums, natural attractions, some history, the arts, etc. This book has something for everyone, from the nature lover to the theme park lover; it's for people who like to camp, and those who'd rather stay at pricey hotels. Check out the special interest tours in the back, they're great!

It is amazing to think that so much treasure is still in the oceans. Very informative!

Potter's "The Treasure Diver's Guide" is a book every scuba diver who ever thought of finding treasure underwater needs to have near his bedside. This is a wonderful work on treasure diving spanning most of the know world. (Wrecks described from Hispaniola, the Antilles, Venezuela, Cuba, Yucatan, Central America, South America, Florida, Portugal, Mediterranean, South Pacific, Asia, Indian Ocean, Southeast Africa, ect. to name a few!!) Complete with a variety of maps (not detailed enough to find the treasure, but good enough to light the fire inside you!), photos of recovered booty, and a thorough compilation of underwater treasure troves around the world. I was impressed with the sheer number of wrecks included in this book, amazing! One of Potter's anecdotes struck me as quite interesting--1/3 of the world's mined gold is at the bottom of the ocean. Wow!! Super read, highly recommended--in fact only several years after this book was published, and a course of action recommended "an all-out dredging attack during the comparative calm of the summer might uncover some treasure," that the wreck of the "Whidah" off East Orleans on Cape Cod was indeed found and ripe with gold pieces of eight at that!

This book explains the basics of treasure diving through the experience of a modern day pioneer that found treasure off the coast of Florida. His love of the sea and history brought him good fortune, but more importantly, a productive quest for innovative techniques so that others can enjoy treasure hunting. After reading this book, I feel that it is possible for anyone to stumble upon their own little peice of treasure--be it historic, a natural phenomenon, or gold coins. I moved to Florida three years ago, and have grown to love the ocean. I have taken up fishing, boating, sailing, snorkeling, surfing, and now look forward to dive lessons this summer. This is the only book that I have found that explains in easy terms the basics and background for treasure diving. My husband and I are excited to begin exploration. What an inspiration!

Personally I think the Second Edition of Treasure Diving With Captain Dom - Special Archival Section has more for your money in content. Both first and second editions are well written in easy to understand language. I found both books very informative with beautiful color photos. The glossy stock which is used in the second edition as opposed to the mat finish paper stock used in the first edition are more vivid and clearly printed on . The second edition has 4 more pages and is priced more moderately. All and all, the second edition is a better value. Treasure Diving With Captain Dom is a wonderful book for both young and old alike. Captain Dom inspires all of us, to follow our dreams.