Florida Books

Thomas Reilly identifies Antony H. Jannus as one of the most significant transitional pilots between the Wright Brothers and Charles Lindbergh. More than just an intrepid aviator, Jannus was an aircraft designer, mechanic, and visionary. He anticipated airmail, transatlantic travel, and aerial warfare. Perhaps most importantly Jannus played a pioneering role in the first scheduled commercial heavier-than-air passenger transportation company in the world though it was not the first airline. That distinction belongs to Deutsche Luftschiffarts AG (DALAG) which began operating a Zeppeline airship on November 16,1909.

While the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, operated only briefly during the first three months in 1914, it presaged one of the most remarkable industries of the twentieth century, that of scheduled commercial air service. Carrying about one thousand passengers, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line was the first of all companies now transporting millions. In many ways the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line mirrored the successes and failures of aviation ventures to follow.

The designer of flying boats, Thomas W. Benoist, from the St. Petersburg Daily Times, March 18, 1914 explains the significance of Jannus' airline. "Many of the formulae, methods and details that have been worked out were and are still being worked on, will become a part of the classics of the science of aeronautics." The airboat line did indeed foretell the future, but Benoist went on to say, "the most encouraging thing about this experiment was the discovery of how easy the whole thing was."(157) Though it may have been easy to set up and operate, the company proved not to be viable economically. The establishment of a reliable American air transportation system would prove much more challenging.

Many of the challenges facing the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line in 1914 paralleled those of today's airlines. An airline begins with a grand idea. In the case of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, it began with Percival Fansler's idea of operating a scheduled flying service. Fansler, a traveling sales representative, saw the advantage of a quick twenty minute flight across the bay between St. Petersburg and Tampa. The land journey by steamship or rail could take hours. The publicity from Jannus' 1,973 mile flight down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in a Benoist flying boat led to the formation of a partnership between Fansler, Benoist, and Jannus.

At five dollars each way, the fare would only cover operating costs but Benoist agreed to operate at a loss, expecting future profits. Additional financial support came from St. Petersburg boosters pledging financial support. The publicity, they felt, would be good and the city agreed to construct a hangar. A three month contract bound the city, Benoist, and Fansler. Succes, it was hoped, would lead to additional routes. In the modern era, one is reminded of Herb Kelleher's Southwest Airlines providing low cost service within Texas, taking advantage of convenient Love Field in Dallas as a hub for its operations.

Of all considerations in the operation of an airline, safety must be paramount. Jannus recognized this fundamental precept when he spoke prior to the inaugural flight. Reilly writes: "He promised to `always keep the maxim of safety first foremost in my mind.'"(130) These were not words only spoken for the moment. Jannus, in fact, had the reputation of being a safe, non-flamboyant flyer. As the first scheduled airplane pilot, he was a good role model. Indeed "Schedule with Safety" is the motto of the Airline Pilot's Association (ALPA) founded in 1931.

Information on the scheduling reliability of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line from mechanical problems or the weather is lacking. Unquestionably a fatal accident would have been reported in the papers and probably shut down the airline permanently. This didn't happen. What is undisputable is that, once the contract expired, it was clear the company could not continue operating without additional capital or a subsidy.

The principle organizers undoubtedly intended the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line to be profitable but, as was so common in the early days of aviation, it proved only to be a noble experiment. Nonetheless, by being first, it was a significant milestone in the evolutionary development of commercial aviation.

Seldom have I read a more thoughtful and well-researched treatment of early American aviation. The author should be commended for his full treatment of the subject. As I read each page, I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for what was to happen. This historical biography reads almost like a work of fiction. What a beautiful and well written story of one of America's early heroes of aviation. I would encourage everyone to read this book. It's uplifting not just because it deals with a very important part of American aviation, but because it fully tells the story of an American hero. Forget the Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh; Tony Jannus had the "right stuff" long before Chuck Yeager. Buy it, read it, it's a great book.

I met the author in Tampa Florida on April 18, 1998. His grasp of the subject as well as the subject of early American aviation is amazing. I encourage everyone to read this book. END

Before I read this book, I knew absolutely nothing about what it was like to fly in the early days of American aviation. After reading this book, I felt as if I had been there on each of the many dangerous flights that Tony Jannus had undertaken. What a man, what a man he must have been.

The author shares with us not only his pictures, but how the capture was accomplished. Well done.

This is the most beautiful visual book regarding Florida I've seen on the
market. The photography, by Jon Moran, is world class. Florida is my home
and when I want to send information and want to give a glimpse of this
lovely state that I live in, to friends around the world, this is the book
that I send to them. Everyone has appreciated the historical notes, the
factual information about the places where the pictures were taken, and
the visual memories of the authentic natural Florida, unfortunately
now not always seen by visitors.

I, too, am a Florida nature photographer: but my case is far different, as I'm a student with a limited budget and have only been shooting for two years. This book is especially close to my heart and experience, because, like Mr. Moran, I delight in travelling North and Central Florida in search of that perfect shot--it was great to turn the pages of a beautiful, glossy *professional* book and see all my old haunts, compare my experiences with Mr. Moran's (his passion for the state and the art is so evident), and, when I go back home to Colorado in a month, have someone else's take on Florida's beauty with me. I'll never tire of looking at this book.

"For 20 years Moran has traveled the Sunshine State with his cameras, capturing natural Florida as it must have appeared to Ponce de Leon and other early strangers in paradise. Narrating a slide show of his remarkable collection of landscape photography, Moran reflects on his quest to capture the soul of one of the most photographed states in the country." (review from the Florida Humanities Council)
Before moving to Florida, I only had a vague idea of its natural landscape gleaned from television documentaries on the Everglades. This book brings the wide range of Florida natural beauty into our living room. Enjoy!

The life of David Ring is a phenomenal one. This book will make you laugh, cry, smile, and frown. It will inspire you. You will understand what it means when people say that God accepts us just the way we are. David is an inspiration to everyone who meets him and gets to know this incredible man of God

If you have ever heard David Ring speak, you must read this book. It is a powerful demonstration how God has a specific plan for each of us! I read it in one day...could not put it down.

Reading this book a year ago didn't keep my eyes dry, but kept them wet - all the time. I LOVED the stories about how his life was, how he found love in God, made a GREAT, LOVING FAMILY .... and how he didn't give up on his dreams.
For those who haven't read this - SHOULD, and DON'T FORGET TO GRAB A BOX OF TISSUES WITH YOU!
(I'm going to go tell my FRIENDS about this book and have THEM read this book!)

Ever heard of David Ring? Well, he's a Christian evangelist who also has cerebral palsy. Listen to him sometime. He'll make you feel very uncomfortable at first, but he'll leave you encouraged and pumped to serve Christ.

His autobiography JUST AS I AM (same title Billy Graham used for his) is a fascinating read. It's very difficult to put down even for the slow, undisciplined readers like myself. His motto is: "I have cerebral palsy. What's your problem?" In other words, I have cerebral palsy, therefore I don't fit into normal American society. But I'm not letting it hold me back. I still working and fighting as hard as I can to serve the Lord. So, what's your excuse?

This message which is the focal point of David Ring's ministry initially makes the life-long church-goer very uncomfortable. But if you listen, and act, this is a message which will change your life.

I highly recommend this book. It's not one you'll easily forget.

Keys Cuisine is one of the five best Florida/Gulf Coast cookbooks out there. Well, that's my opinion. I've been updating my Amazon "So You'd Like to Guides" and I have one on Key Lime Pie. Take a look at it if you want. Anyway, I've included fifty cookbooks (the maximum Amazon will allow) in all my guides, so I've had a chance to go through my collection. And quite a collection it is, I've got hundreds of cookbooks and I go through them all the time. That's my problem, how to organize them. While going through what I wanted to include in my guides, I started separating them into piles, the ones I couldn't live without and the ones, if I absolutely had to, I could give away as gifts, you know, like if we moved into a very small place.

Keys Cuisine is one I could never part with. I love the food and the atmosphere of Florida and the Gulf Coast, have spent a lot of time there, as I'm a sailing lady. I'm also somewhat of a gourmet chef. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, or galley, depending if I'm at home in the States or on our boat in the Caribbean. The recipes here will make your family, or even just yourself, if you live alone, drool. They are mouthwatering good and that's the truth.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

I used the recipe for " Manny's Key Lime Pie" p.189 All seemed to be going well - the key lime mixture tasted great. Problem was that the directions said to "beat the egg yolks and condensed milk until creamy". It did not say to cook it. I thought this was problematic. All those eggs yolks should have been cooked, not just beaten. I followed the book instructions and only cooked it when I had made the meringue and placed it on top. I cooked it for the required 5 minutes but it was still very liquidy. I have it in the freezer right now and am hoping that it works. Did you miss in the recipe ? Should it have been cooked instead of beaten ???

I found this to be the ultimate way to "eat" my way up and down the Florida Keys. Then to be able to take the flavors with me and prepare them at home is a real treat.

This is an awesome cookbook! If you are interested in adding fish to your diet in unique ways, this cookbook is a must-have! There are also tons of other recipes, including a whole chapter devoted to key limes, and the recipes are well written and easy to follow. I have eaten at Marker 88,home of one of the featured chefs in the book, and the recipe for Andre's Snapper Rangoon is to die for! I find the recipes very innovative and delicious!

I just finished this extraordinary book, and was totally engrossed in the story line and well developed characters from start to finish. I highly recommend this book, undoubtedly the best book I've read this year.

BRAVO, BRAVO, Darryl Wimberley for a job well done!

I pre-ordered The King of Colored Town by Darryl Wimberley back in January after a friend passed me a two-line, positive blurb about the book. By the time it arrived, I did not have any more insight about the author or the story, so I cracked the cover hoping not to be disappointed. This book turned out to be a true literary delight and one of my favorites so far for 2007!

The reader is transported to 1963 in the racially-charged Florida Panhandle region amid the Civil Rights movement. A teenaged dreamer, Joe Billy King, finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and is implicated in a church bombing. He flees Tallahassee to the backwoods of Laureate, FL where he meets Cilla Handsom. Opposites attract and the charms of Joe Billy, an outspoken, city boy, attract Cilla, the shy, bashful country girl who is struggling with a mentally ill mother and living in overt poverty. Their love affair is strained by the inevitable limitations of deep-rooted racism and local "good ole boy" politics.
It is ultimately crushed in a brutal and savage act of cowardice and betrayal. A man is killed, a trial ensues, secrets are revealed, and their paths diverge forever. Cilla escapes and becomes a classically trained musician while Joe Billy languishes in a penitentiary for the rest of his life.

To reveal more would ruin the plot; but I will say there is much, much more to the story than what I summarized here! I found myself immersed from the beginning and it appealed to me on many levels. One being that it was centered in a region of Florida that I am intimately familiar; I actually have (distant) relatives in the same geographical area. Another is that the novel's historical fiction aspects were rooted in realism. The school integration scenes and voter registration issues so heavily prevalent in the rural, segregated South were written with depth, passion, and clarity. The author really captured and communicated the mindset (fears, pride, frustrations) and differing points of views among the African Americans on these two very (at the time) controversial topics. Last, I found Wimberley to be a wonderful storyteller -- he set the scenarios perfectly, the characters were rich and full-bodied, the plot was clever and well-paced, the lyrical prose and dialogue were authentic and on point. It is highly recommended for those who enjoy literary drama and Civil Rights era pieces with a bit of mystery/suspense.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub

An absolutely great page turner. Kept me glued to the pages and I was sorry to get to the end. Wimberley knows how to keep the reader interested in the characters that he develops and the story he weaves. Great reading.

Darryl Wimberley's newest book was a rarity--a chance for one to live a life completely out of one's own experience. The narrative, told in the voice of an African-American woman coming of age in the segregated South of the early 1960's, is completely believeable. The theme, of the risks and rewards of following one's dream, no matter what the sacrifice, hardly allows for such distractions to the reader as work, meals, or sleep until the entire story has been told and savored. If you have not yet discovered Darryl Wimberley's fiction, this is an excellent start. If you have read his other works, you will appreciate how his gift has deepened since his first published work.

I have been practicing landlord tenant law in Florida for seven years and this book is the best and most accurate summary of landlord-tenant law that I have seen (excepting the four volume series by Hauser, $325.00 from Lexis Publishing). Florida Landlords' Rights and Duties has twelve chapters dealing with the typical sources of lanldord-tenant conflict. The book specifically covers the eviction process from start to finish and contains all of the forms a do-it-yourself landlord will need to perform their own eviction. You can also contact the author to get all the forms in the book on CD Rom. If you are a Florida landlord, you must own this book.

Concise and logically formatted this is a great book for rental property owners in Florida. Complete with case law notes and examples the book is really helpful in accomplishing most actions a landlord will have to undertake. The forms are handy as well and will keep you from having to buy a legal forms program or from having to run to the county clerks office.

I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of information contained in this book. Its written in easy to understand language and covers just about everything you need to know about renting property in Florida. Thoroughly discusses applicable Florida statutes, includes case references and supplies various legal forms. I wouldn't feel comfortable handling my own rentals in Florida without this book.

After purchasing this book by Attorney Mark Warda, I have found his insight into the real estate laws of Florida invaluable. The easy to read format of the book along with the flowcharts and associated legal forms makes owning rental property less stressful. Common legal problems that a landlord encounters are addressed. A "must get" for the do-it-yourself landlord.

This book is easy to read and hard to put down. It will appeal to anyone who likes aviation, space, WWII or mystery stories.

If you're an aviation, machinery or WWII buff, you'll like this book. Some chapters read like they came from a reincarnated Nevil Shute. Great read, highly recommended.

The Blue Goose was a B-24 bomber that disappeared during a routine flight from an airbase in Florida in 1942. No trace of the plane or its crew was ever found. In 1972, the remains of a crewmember were discovered on a remote beach near the equator. An autopsy revealed the crewmember died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Doggedly, the pilot's son and former commanding officer try to solve the puzzle to no avail. Five years after the remains were discovered, a Luftwaffe pilot dies in a crash and the mystery surrounding the Blue Goose is finally solved.

This is a great plot with lots of surprises and a great read for all WWII, history, and aviation buffs. As part of the story takes place in a machine shop, Neville Shute fans will like this book--highly recommended.

WWII story and mystery with a twist will prove a good read for history buffs and mystery fans alike. A lot of interesting detail on WWII vintage aircraft with a good plot. Anyone who enjoyed "Trustee from the Toolroom" by Neville Shute will also enjoy this book.

If you've read the Archy McNally books, you know he has a slightly daft friend who does bird calls, Binky Watrous. In this wonderful installment, McNally's Puzzle, Binky goes undercover at a bird store called Parrots Unlimited to find out who is threatening the store's owner, Hiram Gottschalk. Sancho Panza is a motivational consultant compared to Binky, and the complications are hilarious. You'll laugh until it hurts!

Before long, bodies are piling up in all directions. Who did it?

Here's a clue. The book's cover has a parrot on it. If you pay attention to the parrot, you'll get some important leads on who the guilty parties are.

Archy McNally is at his usual prissy best, more concerned about his wardrobe than the mystery. The ladies find him irresistible, and he feels obliged to help out. This gets him into trouble, as usual, with his main squeeze, Connie.

The actual plot is full despicable double-dealing. You'll be glad when the bad guys get it.

Great fun!

What a pure delight it is to read three of Archy McNally's crime solving adventures in one book! I spent an entire weekend laughing, and thoroughly enjoying myself reading how the brilliant rogue Archy McNally bumbles into a case (and at times into the bed of an attractive female) and how he solves a case. Each of these stories is definite fun to read from the beginning to the last page. I really do miss Lawrence Sanders...Archy hasn't been the same without him.

The main character, Archy McNally, makes these books worth the read! The witty dialouge and inner thoughts of this sleuth keep me laughing. His constant references to literature and music as befits the situation provide me with several bursts of chuckling which always cause my husband to ask what I'm reading. I also like (and share) his penchant for food and drink, and delight in the descriptions of everything he consumes. I usually have guessed the plot correctly half-way through the book, but I can't help loving Archy!

If you've never read a McNally book before, try this set of three, because if you read one, you'll want to read more. Witty, charming, and as morally reprehensible as we'd all like to be, Archy McNally is the type of fascinating character you wish was real, just so you could take him out for drinks.

I read River of Grass last fall and then read Liquid Land last winter. It was great. Easy to read and follow. Very informative.
I'm reading it for the second time now. You can't read it without coming away with genuine concern or affirming everything you have thought or been told about the state of our Everglades and how vital they are to the well-being of our Earth.

From panthers to tree snails, author Levin has experienced Florida's Everglades as no other, and here is provided an artful survey of author Ted Levin's travels through the region. From issues surrounding its restoration efforts to history of wildlife and wildlife management efforts, Liquid Land is packed from cover to cover with eye-opening insights.

This book just won author Ted Levin the 2004 John Burroughs Award for natural history writing, putting him in the company of such wonderful writers as David Quammen (Song of the Dodo), Carl Safina (Eye of the Albatross), Rachel Carson (The Sea Around Us), John McPhee (Control of Nature), Bernd Heinrich (Mind of the Raven), and others.

For me, this book is the new Everglades natural history classic, and will go on my bookshelf next to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas' "The Everglades: River of Grass."

The Florida peninsula was at one time, depending on how you looked at it, a collection of pestilential swamps and frightening dark hardwood hammocks and pine woodlands, or a remarkable paradise of biodiverse and uniquely intertwined ecosystems. I tend to view the peninsula that was as the latter and I am saddened by, for example, the loss of tropical hardwood hammock to the ever growing asphalt and concrete jungle that is called greater Miami.

Indeed, of the many splendors of the "Sunshine State" the Everglades is one of the most remarkable. Made famous by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (who lived to reach 100 years of age), it has at least as much allure as the "Big Scrub" of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I have seen both, but by the time I saw them they were both much diminished from what they were even fifty years before.

Ted Levin eloquently tells the story of the Everglades, its near destruction and attempted restoration in "Liquid Land: A Journey Through the Florida Everglades." It is not a pretty story as it involves many misguided ideas about the "grassy waters." These led to the building of miles of canals and dikes and one of the most messed up attempts to tame the untamable in the history of the United States. Whether the Army Corps of Engineers can restore the Glades to their original splendor is questionable, as they don't even really know what the Everglades were like prior to the end of the 19th Century. Nobody bothered to record it! After all it was worthless swamp and jungle to the developers like Napoleon Bonaparte Broward.

Levin records this sad history of an underappreciated wilderness reduced to, as Levin says, the artificialness of Disney World by the pumps that try to restore "normal" flows of water. Besieged by often totally inappropriate development, the Everglades still survive in a much reduced form. This world was also well described, as well as illustrated by beautiful and haunting photographs as it was in the early 1970s, by Archie Carr in "The Everglades" (Time-Life Books).

A monumental "tribute" to the short-sightedness and unbelievable hubris of the human species, the story of the Everglades is also one of hope, however slight. Archie Carr always tried to look on the bright side of the issue and I think we have to do so as much as we can (while not sugar- coating the destruction that has occurred in the past and is still going on today). While a mere shadow of what once was, there are still some areas like Corkscrew Swamp and (if you are very adventurous) the Fakahatchee Strand that are very much worth seeing- especially if you can appreciate swamps.

Read Ted Levin's book if you care about the special wild places of this planet!

Bill Belleville is a documentary filmmaker and author specializing in conservation: how work has appeared extensively in magazines, has been anthologized in collections, and he's written many books, but LOSING IT ALL TO SPRAWL: HOW PROGRESS ATE MY CRACKER LANDSCAPE hits closer to home than many of his other books. Bill Belleville writes of his historic Cracker farmhouse and old neighborhood of central Florida even as it's being wiped out: any who have visited the area in the last few years will readily acknowledge the truths and observations in LOSING IT ALL TO SPRAWL. In addition to documenting the underlying social, political and economic forces at work in promoting sprawl, Belleville offers Floridians and others hope for appreciating nature.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Fifteen years the author lived in a 'cracker' house at the end of a dirt road and shared the solitude enjoyed by former occupants for more than seventy years. It was a perfect hide-away for a freelance environmental writer and film maker, where privacy was respected, where nature was sufficient unto itself and its creatures, and where the only compromises with modernity were indoor plumbing and electricity. Even the window unit air conditioner was redundant in a house designed in simpler times, well shaded and with natural cross ventilation.
One day the shrill back-up signal of earth-moving equipment shattered the tranquility, a nails-on-blackboard, unsettling sound that forewarned of loss of innocence to come. A new mega-mall is planned nearby, and already the landscape is denuded and sculpted to accommodate the thousands of cars, SUV's and service vehicles that would respond. "If you build it, they will come." (With apologies to W. P. Kinsella.)
Bill Belleville is an award-winning writer, the author of River of Lakes, A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River, Deep Cuba and Sunken Cities, Sacred Cenotes and Golden Sharks. His film making credits include an Emmy award for Wekiva: Legacy or Loss.
It was Belleville's cracker house and his story, and the story of those who lived there before. But in a larger sense it is my story and yours, all of us who have witnessed the sacrifice of the playgrounds of childhood and the sanctuaries of memory at the altar of 'progress.' But we don't have to write it. Bill Belleville has done it for us with the same beauty and poignancy that marked his earlier works, but this time with righteous anger born of loss.
A wonderful, compelling, intensely personal book that reminds the rest of us of what we, too, have lost, and leaves us asking "What price, progress?"

As a native Floridian, I have bemoaned the loss of the state I remember. Shopping malls and amusement parks have replaced much of what I think of as Florida. This book speaks to these feelings and should be read by anyone concerned about the rampant growth of our society which seems bent on destroying any sense of the past. At least we can glimpse what was once there through this well written and heartfelt book.

My grandma says "there won't be a blade of grass left." Belleville explains why. A personal story of man who finds the true Florida, a people who scratched out a living in the early days and survived many hurricanes, only to be swept away today by developers. Highly recommended reading for anyone who is fighting urban sprawl.