Florida Books

If you like history, Native Americans and feel that part of you would like to live in the past, and especially Florida, this is a wonderful read. You can feel the excitement of carving wood with ancient tools made by the author and sense what it is like to make arrowheads from the earth. Another hands on book of high regard is Walking the Trail by Cherokee author Jerry Ellis. He was the first person in modern history to walk the 900 mile route of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Inspiring, compelling and hard driven, this spiritual book was nominated for a Pulitzer and National Book Award.

Mr. Brown goes a long way to test his theories. Recreating the articles of every day life was at times arduous and demanding, but his work was not in vain.
What I liked most was the practicality of the author. Instead of writing from the lofty towers of "academia" and pure theoretical knowledge, he and his small band of peers proves the discoveries and findings at archeological digs are based on real events, not some kooky theory. The people described did exist, and after reading this book they will become more real to you.
The knowledge gained from reading this book is immense and is time well spent.

This is the best book I've read on Florida's Paleo-Indians so far, not only for identifying pottery, tools (both shell & stone) and other artifacts, but the author's details on reconstructing the methods of creating and using the same, are wonderful. The photos and drawings of hundreds of different potsherds are alone worth the price of the book. At last I can not only identify the many pieces I have picked up over the last several years, but gain a greater understanding of the people who created them.

For young people,parents and teachers, a "must have" on explorations of Florida's bountiful geological treasures. Many surprises await the reader as he is introduced to this trove of unique fascinating facts.

What a wonderful addition to Florida lore. A well written, well structured book that can add a lot of fun to a family vacation or inform the experienced rock hound. Ms. Comfort has written a useful and delightful book.

This a definite must for a Florida vacation and was an excellent substitute until I can get there in the flesh. From the data on Florida's earthquakes (few), to her lightning storms (many), to description of "braiding" rivers and such poetic formations of fulgurites (lightning strikes frozen in sand when the grains melt and fuse along the lightning's course), to the beautiful color photos of crystals (I am still OOOOoooohhhhing over the golden wavellites) this was a poetical but PRACTICAL guide to rock hunting and caving in Florida. I recommend it highly.

I am a native of Panama City, Florida, and grew up on that wonderful stretch of sugar sand beaches between Port St. Joe and Pensacola. I enjoyed this book, filled with historical excerpts and beautiful photography so much that I immediately ordered it for both of my nephews. Thank you Michael and Robin for doing this gorgeous area of Nortwest Florida the justice it deserves.
Someday I will return to my birthplace to live. I just hope there is some of the natural scenery left when I finally get home. I am really sorry that the natural beauty of this area has been marred by "progress," and condos. I'm so sad to see it go.
Susan George Brown
Fort Worth, TX

This awesome book is creatively written with intersting historical facts and breath taking photography. Currently residing out of state, I am inspired to plan my next trip to Florida's Northwest. The book is educational in terms of the environmental concerns of the area, and will enlighten the reader to take notice and immediate action to the cause.
If you want a book that will take you on an exciting journey and reduce your stress level, this is the one. I also have a copy at work on my office credenza.

Photographer Michael O'Donovan has produced a wonderful end-table book of photos that capture the essence of a unique and very special part of Florida... a place worth saving. Northwest Florida has suddenly become popular and is at a crossroad where it could perhaps retain its special character... or become part of generic coastal Florida. For some parts of Northwest Florida it is already too late.

My only criticism is that the book does not adequately depict the history and perhaps should have included more about downtown Pensacola.

Overall excellent!!

I love Florida.I love this book! I found this book from a reference in Jimmy Buffett's song FLORIDAYS. He writes with passion and lighthearted fun at the same time.Direct from the tropic of soul.

Don Blanding expresses his innermost feelings about his tropical home in Florida. It is probably one of my all time favorite books now. I have a similiar passion for FLorida and all of its tropical wonders. It touched my soul and my tropical heart. If you feel the same- you will love Floridays!

Don Blanding wrote this book while married to socialite Dorothy Binney Putnam and living in Fort Pierce. It's a departure from his Hawaiian books of poetry, but written with the same heart-felt sincerity. The illustrations are fabulous! Jimmy Buffet, a long-time Blanding fan, based his album Floridays on this book. Find out more about Don Blanding at www.don-blanding.com

A beautiful yet harsh look into the nature of Florida! The area he writes about, I have seen and it is still the same today as it was 70 years ago! If you want more of a personal inside into the author, try reading,"Whistled like a Bird" by Sally Chapman, you'll see a chapter including, Don Blanding and the area he so richly describes! It maybe be difficult finding a copy, but the local bookstores should have some on the shelves!

Mother and daughter Patricia Stephens Due and Tananarive Due have written a fascinating and revealing look at the struggle by African-Americans to gain equal rights. The elder Due tells of her involvement with the "movement" during the turbulent 60's. She introduces the readers to the many sit-ins, jail-ins, planning conferences, and brushes with the famous and not so famous. It is those "unknown" heroes that are the revelation here. Being a neighbor to nearby Tallahassee, FL (where much of the book's events occur), my eyes were opened to the significance of developments in that city to changes that would be made nationwide. Mrs. Due writes candidly and details her convictions, as well as the dedication of her fellow "marchers/protestors". Her contributions as an author and activist are commendable and necessary reading for those interested in the period.

Tananarive Due shares her upbringing in a house headed by such politically minded and socially active parents. By writing about her college days and beyond, she reminds us that things have not changed as much as they should since her mother and others trod the streets of Tallahassee. She cites the Miami riots of the 80's (the result of the senseless murder of a black motorcyclist), as well as other highly profiled instances of human abuses.

The book is an essential read, if only to appreciate the people that sacrificed so much to make this country accept its creed of being "one nation for all".

Freedom in the Family by mother-daughter authors, Tananarive Due and Patricia Stephens Due, is an account of their family's involvement in the Civil Rights movement. Told in alternating chapters, the book recounts the contributions of their family, friends and supporters in an autobiographical format. Patricia Due carefully shares her personal family history as foundation for her motivation and attraction toward the principles of racial equality. She drew courage and strength from the examples her parents provided in daily life. She covers the fear, anxiety, blood, sweat, and tears that resulted from numerous sit-in's, freedom rides, marches, and rallies in such detail that I felt I had witnessed them myself. She shares her pain and dedication in heartfelt passages such as the loss of a baby during a voter registration project. Tananarive's viewpoint is that of a daughter living in the post-Civil Rights era. Her story recaps the difficulty of growing up in largely white neighborhoods and schools and of being ostracized by both blacks for being "too white" and whites for being "too black". The details of her struggle and childhood observations of her parent's lives are equally compelling as her mother's.

This novel is a wonderful history lesson that includes details that uncover the fortitude and determination of many unsung heroes. The personal sacrifices (suspension/expulsion from college, permanent physical injury, and death) of "everyday people" for the sake of justice are truly admirable and honorable.

For this reviewer, this book was particularly touching because Patricia goes into great detail about the forming of CORE and other noteworthy events happening at FAMU during the same era when my parents, aunts, and uncles attended. She also mentions events in other small towns in Florida where other members of my family lived, so key passages sparked a lot of memories --resulting in me getting a very personal slant on my family's viewpoints on the struggle while reading this book. This body of work is truly a labor of love and a great accomplishment for the Due family; one can only imagine the countless hours it took to pull it all together. It is an excellent memoir, a beautiful legacy, and a definite keepsake for me!

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub, Nubian Circle Book Club

"The workers opened the passenger-side door and carried out a very elderly Negro woman, who told us she was 109 years old. 'I was born a slave,' she announced. 'It's 'bout time I registered to vote.' ... (T)here were other people in Chattahoochee who wanted to register, including her ninety-year-old daughter, but they were afraid. 'They say if I come back alive, they'll come register too,' she said."

I first came across Tananarive Due in a work I have previously reviewed: "Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora," by Sheree R. Thomas. Having read Due's novels to date, I periodically check the library catalog for anything new, not expecting to find a non-fiction entry. I had no real idea of her biography or her background; I just knew I had found an author I like, who is definitely worthy of more attention than she has yet received.

This work, written in collaboration with her mother, Patricia Stephens Due, is excellent - start to finish. As the parent of several children in the public schools of lily-white Iowa, I see the yearly, compulsory, half-hearted "diversity studies." What this has come to mean is that every September, Martin Luther King, Jr. is beatified; every October, Christopher Columbus is reviled; every January, King is nominated for sainthood; and every February they do Black History Month, at which time it becomes okay to mention Rosa Parks or Harriet Tubman. At the end of it all, you can ask any student, black or white, about Ralph Abernathy, Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, the SCLC generally, or CORE and all you will get is blank stares. They will have no idea who Bull Connor was and may have only a vague sense of recognition at the name of George Wallace. Tallahassee and St. Augustine: blank stares. Birmingham and Selma: nods of vague recognition.

If this book were made required reading in the high school curriculum (or at least anthologized portions of it), maybe a sense of the real struggles would stay alive. Not the struggles of white-against-black, but the struggles of activists (White and Negro)against the establishments (White and Negro), against fear, and against apathy. And, divisions within the movement itself.

Daughter and mother Due quickly brush aside the revisionist histories of a Civil Rights Movement under the omnipresent eyes of Dr. King - a monolithic structure pitting white against black. The reader is constantly reminded that the civil rights movement was really made up of the diverse activities of mostly unsung heroes (White and Negro) who gave of their lives, gave up their livelihoods, and gave their very lives to the cause of freedom. The reader is not allowed to believe that the struggle is over. Nor, is the reader permitted to forget that the issue was not and is not Black versus White; it is an issue of freedom and justice - for all.

Written in a comfortable, narrative style, it is nevertheless a scholarly look at the people and the times. The authors chose to use the the language of the times (thus, this reviewer's use of the word "Negro," dispite the fact that the term has fallen into disfavor among the politically correct). In their successful effort to place the reader in the middle of these turbulent years one gets the sense that these were times we should be proud of - at least for those of us who never accepted segregation and racial prejudice. This book tells the stories of civil rights activists so that the memories will not be lost in the current climate of sanitized political correctness. It is said of the Holocaust, "Never Forget!" It should be said of the civil rights activists, "Always Remember!"

I plan on giving this book to alot of my friends who vacation in Florida. This is not just for Floridians but also for us Northerners who have winter homes in Florida. The book not only helps us figure out what to plant but increases our knowledge of what we see when temporarily living in the lovely state of Florida.

As a landscape contractor who does just upscale homes, I am most pleased with this new book. I bought a dozen of them to give to my best clients. Of course, I kept one copy for myself and use it on a regular basis.

Everyone who I have shown the book to or given a copy has commented that this book is one of the best gardening books that they have ever seen. It is user friendly and very informative.

Keep up the good work and tell me when your next book is published. "

I have lived in Florida for five years now, and all my northern approaches to gardening just weren't working. I knew the climate was different and the growing season was different, but until I got this book, I just didn't realize that things are not only different, they are opposite! I have had much success with this book, as it offers basic strategy and lets you take it from there. I believe native and long-time Floridians could also benefit, as the book offers techniques for getting rid of pests that crop up at specific times of the year on specific plants with specific symptoms. It is very thorough, with its month-by-month plans and answers to common questions that have plagued me for the four years before I got the book. Florida gardening is different, a challenge, but not impossible with this guide. I had nearly given up until I got my hands on this. Very practical. I can't say I've had 100 percent growing success, but I'm betting on it this year.

When one thinks of the Civil War one usually congurs images of courageous men fighting for their convictions. Dr. Revels shows us another side of this conflict--courageous women, fighting for their homes, their husbands, their families. This she does with humor (describing the Crackers) and pathos (letters written from the war front to the home). I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in History and Women's Studies.

Well written and fun to read. This may be the first history book I've read since high school and certainly the first to make me appreciate how much of history is really about pretty ordinary people.

I am a high school United States history teacher in Florida and I wanted to learn a little more about what life was like in Florida during and after the civil war. I found this book online and bought it. What a pleasant surprise! I was not expecting such a well-written, well-researched and endearing true account of the lives of these Florida women during the Civil War. Not only is it replete with first hand documentation, but it is comprehensive of all aspects of life and circumstances faced during that time. And what I didn't expect was how involved I became in the lives of these women. I was reading it primarily for research, but certain women's letters and diary entries kept popping up and it started to paint a complete picture of their life, so much so, that when I neared then end of the book and it talked about the loved ones they lost in the war, or how they themselves died... I actually grieved. I didn't realize that I was being emotionally pulled into their lives as I was taking notes and highlighting bits and pieces of information. If you are the least bit interested in Florida history, or women in the civil war (it speaks almost equally about their menfolk as well) YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED with this book. Highly recommended!

This book can stand on its own, but I like to read it after the"great pig escape." The children practice recall and retelling of the first story as the prelude to reading The Great Pig Search. Again, the children can "outsmart" the leading man because as he is looking all over for the pigs, the children can see the pigs "right there". This is a very popular book in my class of 4 and 5 year olds. It is great fun for me to read also.

In Eileen Christelow's picturebook story The Great Pig Search, Bert and Ethel's pigs escape on their way to market and their owners receive a postcard with one message: "OINK". Now they decide to head to Florida in search of their wayward pigs - and Bert seems to see them everywhere in this whimsical, fun story.

"The trouble started the day Bert and Ethel's pigs escaped from the back of their truck. Right after that, people all over town started missing clothes. Everyone searched everywhere. No clothes. No pigs." Soon a postcard arrived from Florida with the word 'OINK'. It was embarrassing, everyone joking about Bert and Ethel's runaway, postcard writing pigs. What they needed, Bert decided was to get away from it all, and take a nice vacation to someplace special, warm and fun, like Florida. He bought two bus tickets, and those two pig farmers were soon on their way..... Eileen Christelow is back with another charming and amusing missing pig tale that's sure to have kids squealing with pleasure. Her simple and entertaining story line is enhanced with expressive and hilarious illustrations, and little ones will enjoy poring over the pages and finding all the disguised pigs in the most unusual places. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, The Great Pig Search is a rip roarin' comical adventure that's sure to tickle your funny bone each and everytime you open the book.

Nigel Foster has finally turned his excellent writing skills to South Florida. Having kayaked in South Florida for the past 6 years, I have personally done most of the trips described in the book. Mr. Foster's descriptions are brief, but his attention to detail, and excellent on-water guides make the book very useful. Short accounts of the history of some areas (i.e., "The Watson Mystery") enliven the book. It is written in the style of a travel guide - a bit unusual for a guide to kayak touring, but it lends itself to the area. His "Caution" tips, e.g., "Watch out for racoons at your picnic site." are well-chosen. Trip ratings are very reasoned and appropriate, e.g., "Paddling the outer coast is committing, with exposure to the Gulf...Waves across Whitewater Bay generally produce a short chop...No one lives in this area, and there's no way out of it except at the camping sites...." A concisely written book. Well done!

Very good advice in the Keys section. Did several of the trips recently. Always "as advertised" in the book.
Worth the $$$.

Thank you Nigel Foster for such a complete and wonderful guide! I have been to a few areas in Florida, and can not wait to go this February and "try" out a few more of the recommended trips. A friend and I are going to go to Ding Darling Refuge and the Black Island (Lover's Key) trip at the very least. The trip descriptions have me longing for my vacation to get here. Very good maps, and I appreciate the section on places to stay and camp!

I've had the rare pleasure of reading Alexandra Tomnalonis's book, "Henning Kronstam: Portrait of a Danish Dancer" and it is wonderful. The book is crammed with information; with Ms. Tomalonis's writing style I never felt I was plowing my way through an encyclopedia. The narrative flowed and my interest did not waver. Kronstam emerges a fascinating man. He was a silent Dane not given to letting others know much about him. An artistic genius, his style was all but lost in the era of the Ballet Boom and the following changes in the art. The book tells about his exciting entrance to Royal Danish Ballet, his dancing career, his dramatic excellence, the dancers of his era, and the nurturing of the Bournonville tradition. It continues with his career as artistic director and ballet master, and his influence on the dancers fortunate enough to be coached by him (there are many insightful quotes by his protégé's). He was a man of great detail and it is fascinating to read about those tiny details he'd add or subtract from a ballet in order to make it perfect. I highly recommend to book.

This remarkable book looks superficially like a ballet biography. It is so much more than that. It deserves, and I hope finds, a readership far broader than a ballet book would normally reach... In the book we learn that his first experience as a professional was as a child actor in the very theatre he would later dedicate his life to, so his destiny on stage in some capacity was assured. He danced the principal roles in all the major ballets, and was especially notable in the Bournonville tradition that he helped maintain. He had many new works created for him by modern choreographers, including the part of Romeo in Ashton's Romeo and Juliet. Whenever the Royal toured, which was not often enough, foreign critics and audiences singled Kronstam out for special recognition for both his dancing and his acting. But I venture to say that ballet lovers who know of Nureyev and Bruhn, who were roughly Kronstam's contemporaries, may not know Kronstam's name. This book gives some interesting perspectives that help explain why.

The fact that the book is called "Portrait of a *Danish* Dancer" (rather than simply "Portrait of a Dancer") puzzled me at first. But Ms. Tomalonis has thoroughly captured Kronstam's complex personality, and in many ways that personality was the Danish national character in microcosm. It seems that many of Kronstam's inherent strengths and weaknesses were reinforced by the societal expectations of both his family and his nation. This may have contributed, consciously or unconsciously, to Kronstam's choice to remain in Copenhagen for his entire career when others chose to leave to pursue international recognition with foreign companies.

The book succeeds on so many levels. It has all the hallmarks of a good biography. The author, who personally met with and interviewed her subject extensively and also spoke with scores of his relatives and colleagues, discusses Kronstam's personal matters with tact and dignity. She portrays Kronstam with a kind of tenderness that does not detract from her clear-eyed understanding of him. The fact that Kronstam, an intensely private person, was comfortable and candid enough to reveal as much as he did to her bespeaks a level of trust in the author that few biographers enjoy. Inspite of the pervasive sadness of Kronstam's story at the end of his life, when she met with him, Ms. Tomalonis is able to show Kronstam's warmth and humor as well. It gives Kronstam an aura of nobility which he, in his typical humility, would probably have derided.

For balletomanes, like me, the book showcases Ms. Tomalonis' depth of both historical and current ballet expertise. Her writing style is so fluent and graceful, however, that the wealth of ballet detail never interferes with the book's story line. One can sense that this very expertise was part of the common language between author and subject that made it possible for Kronstam to communicate his thoughts so effectively to the author.

Finally, for anyone interested in understanding the creative process, there is a unique opportunity to hear Kronstam's own recollections of how he developed his roles, how he was able to inhabit a role with his characteristic intensity. Several of the modern ballets in which he created characters contain harrowing psychological plot lines, and one can only wonder how Kronstam was able to both shield and use his own vulnerabilities to bring these works to life. This section of the book should be required reading for dancers, because it illuminates the thoughtfulness and dedication required of any intelligent performer who wants to do more than execute steps and pantomime emotions. Actors, I am told, embrace the opportunity to "be" their characters, to try on other lives. Here Kronstam conveys that process in a human and insightful way. Ms. Tomalonis somehow manages to make herself invisible during these passages, so that it is Kronstam who emerges with tremendous immediacy... Kronstam could have expected no greater tribute than to have his story told with so much grace and feeling.

Although Henning Kronstam was a dancer of world-class talent and style, he chose to remain close to his beloved home, the Royal Danish Ballet. While Erik Bruhn made international headlines, Kronstam remained mostly at home, blessing the Danes with his perfect technique and great stage presence. I never understood why he had chosen so to shape his career, but Tomalonis' excellent book examines the artistic, psychological and social forces which informed him, and the reading is fascinating, whether the reader is a ballet fan or not. She writes compellingly and with grace and wit, so much so that one is almost loth to finish the book, which must, of course, end with its subject's death. One wishes men like Kronstam to live happily forever. Here is a story of a life well worth examining, and from which to learn.