Florida Books

Gary Corsair's The Groveland Four: The Sad Saga of a Legal Lynching is a shocking look at a dark age in America's past. This is a story of hate, violence, and prejudice. Corsair investigates the legal lynching of four young black men in 1949's Groveland, Florida who were accused of raping a 17-year-old white woman. Corsair uses interviews from the people who lived the tragedy, including the only surviving defendant, to shape an accurate description of this heartrending event. This book explains with great insightfulness the discrimination in criminal justice administration at the time of the civil rights movement. It's just a shame it took this long for someone to tell this story. This book was very compelling from the first word you will be hooked. I recommend this to anyone who likes to read a gripping story of corruption, courage, and redemption.

As one who was on the scene at the time,I marvel that Gary Corsair has uncovered and bought to light the shocking events
that tore through Groveland,Florida in 1949 after four young
black men were falsely accused of raping a white woman: two
shot to death (one by a mob,one by Sherrif Willis McCall),
two railroaded to prison, the homes of their families and
friends destroyed by mob violence. Now that the Justice Department has decided to reopen the investigation of the death of Emmett Till, it'a time to follw Corsair's brave lead and
bring final justice to Groveland.

This is a fascinating and colorful fictional memoir of a young girl growing up in South Florida in the 1950's. The writing is superb. Each character will remain with you for a long time. If you liked The Glass Castle, The Secret Life of Bees, Zippy, Ellen Foster, etc. etc., you'll LOVE Guava Dreams.

This is a book I couldn't leave. Kelly's unique voice and wit carried me on a mesmerizing journey through the gritty, mango-sticky, sweaty summers of childhood, through the fears and confusions, and the soaring exaltations. It is a sharply real taste of growing up, in a world totally unique, a world that is lost to us now.

The color plates and sidebar data make it a fun, easy to read mango guide. For any mango lover to hold the guide and look at any color plate is to tease the taste buds for one of the best tropical treats imagineable. It's a great gift item. Someone must republish the book.

Edited by some of Florida's leading mango experts, this book offers detailed descriptions, with full-page color photographs, of 80 varieties of mangos grown in Florida. Mango enthusiasts will find the book invaluable in deciding which cultivars to grow. Mangophiles will also be fascinated by the historical information on the mango industry and on important mango varieties. One caveat: the book does not attempt to give detailed information on how to grow mangos, or how to recognize and deal with the diseases and pests that may affect mango trees.

A beautiful book filled with mouth-watering recipes and gorgeous photographs. One which will be treasured in your library for years to come.

Gulf Coast Cooking 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.

Gulf Coast Cooking 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've been writing reviews of books about Central America for several years for a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer publication. This is by far the best book I've ever read about the region. Carr was a biologist, botanist and teacher, best known for his sea turtle research and establishment of the Tortuguera National Park in Costa Rica. This book details his early exploration of Honduran and Nicaraguan ecosystems in the late 1940's, experiences which were to change his life and change the face of Central American environmentalism. Carr's curiosity, humor and understanding shine in every page. A scientist and trained observer, he maintained a sense of wonder, and was not above being awed by a landscape or a bird sighting. He writes possibly the best line ever written about Olancho, the rich, wild eastern part of Honduras where anything can happen: "It's not the light." he writes. "It's Olancho."

Anyone hoping to make a trip to Honduras or hoping to better understand this fascinating region would benefit from this book.

I believe that this book was very informative on the geography of Nicaragua and Honduras. Archie Carr ventured through the cloud forests and jungles of Honduras and Nicaragua, portraying in impecible detail the beasts, men, and plants of the villages, jungles, forests, and rivers, while siting some of the history of Honduras and Nicaragua. The author was a sea turtle expert, naturalist, author and scientist. I highly reccomend this book to any who seek knowledge of jungle creatures and plants.

There is a growing tide of publications bearing photographs of Palm Beach County in the Flagler Era. In sympathy with the "Kennedy" review, there is something about 'Historic Photos - ' which gives it an extra appeal. It may be the contribution of Seth Bramson which carries with it a good bit of style. Of especial interest to this reviewer was the picture of the legendary Royal Poinciana Hotel, which I had not seen before. Truly, it was a beautiful structure. We all should like books to be cheaper; but for the entire package (Mr. Bramson, choice, and history), this one is worth it.

Turner Publishing has raised the bar again with Historic Photos of Palm Beach County. They couldn't have done a better job with author Seth Bramson. Although I am not from Florida, I have read the book and found it to be extremely informative. Just reading this book makes me want to at least visit Palm Beach County! This would make a terrific holiday gift for anyone who loves books.

I've known Ralph Brower for many years, so when the book came out, I purchased one for me and one for our friends as a Christmas gift.

The book is excellent. Ralph did a meticulous job on the research for the photos. It is VERY interesting. Usually, people just look at the pictures in this type book, but in this case, the captions are worth reading. It's always interesting to go back in time to see how things were years ago.

If you are at all interested in the city of Tampa and area history, you'll love this book!

By the late nineteenth century, the city of Tampa was a vibrant, cultural center. Through the early twentieth century, two World Wars, and into the modern era, Tampa has continued to grow and prosper by overcoming adversity and maintaining the strong independent culture of its citizens. This volume, Historic Photos of Tampa, captures this journey through still photography from the Burgett Brothers Photographic Archives held at the Tampa­Hillsborough County Public Library. From the late 1800s, the Depression era, and to the building of a modern metropolis, Historic Photos of Tampa follows life, government, education, and events throughout Tampa¹s rich history. The book captures unique and rare scenes through the lens of hundreds of historic photographs. Published in striking black and white, the images communicate historic events and everyday life of two centuries of people building a unique and prosperous city. - from the publisher

Great book. Includes a little bit of history of each ship. When it was built. Who owned it. How it came to be a shipwreck. Tom certainly did his research. Covers the most popular dive sites in the Key Largo area. Even covers some of the not so well known, including the Northern Light. Don't miss it.

This book lists the ships that have gone down in the Upper Keys - either through disaster or sunk as an artificial reef. It is an excellent anthology giving the history of each of these ships as well as current diving conditions on each wreck. If you a wreck diver and plan to dive the Upper Keys, this book is a must.

If a higher rating were available, I would give it to this book. This is an illustrated history of human creativity with its primary focus on several hundred inventions. The range of inventions discussed extends from "stone axes to silicon chips." The book is lavishly, abundantly illustrated. Vivid and compelling graphics include artists' renderings, photographs, maps, and time lines of various eras, from "The Beginning of Civilization" (Chapter 1) until "The Shrinking Earth" (Chapter 35). The concluding chapter, "Into the Future", examines three driving forces: convergence, communication, and collaboration. The reader is then provided with an immensely useful Biographical Dictionary and Bibliography to pursue in greater detail subjects of special interest.

Without the illustrations, this book would still be a magnificent scholarly achievement. Lest you be deterred, I hasten to add that its narrative frequently reminded me of a novel such as Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. What I have is a "Revised Edition" of a work first published in 1987. For me, as already implied, this is one of the most entertaining as well as one of the most informative books I have read in recent years. Trevor I. Williams is identified as the author; William E. Schaaf, Jr. with Arianne E. Burnette are credited wth the updating and revising of Williams' original material. For purposes of convenience, I shall refer to them as "the collaborators" and hope that no one takes offense.

The collaborators examine those inventions which had especially great impact on the societies in which they were introduced. These were inventions which, thousands of years ago, created new industries (eg agriculture, construction, and transportation) or transformed basic human activities (eg education, communication, and war). Indeed, the term "revolution" is especially appropriate when we consider the impact of cereals, the domestication of animals, irrigation, writing and the calendar, and farming implements during what the collaborators refer to as "The Agricultural Revolution." With regard to the first half of the twentieth century, the collaborators examine the impact of military technology during the First World War, new sources of energy, new channels of communication, the emergence of travel by road and air, new building techniques, and the rise of the chemical industry. No brief commentary of mine can possibly do full justice to a book such as this. It provides a feast for the mind as well as for the eyes. Bon appetit!

I am very impressed by the usability of this book. The cross referencing footnotes really helped when flipping to different subjects or time periods. The index and biographical information really work well for me.

The organization of subjects is wonderful, inventions are arranged linearly within the subject chapter.

The information is concise and interesting. The illustrations, timelines and photographs were extremely helpful. This book is a great way to familiarize oneself with man-made technological progress.

With all the hype about jib jab these days this books fits right up their...and my... alley.
Funny and provocotive Horace has the nerve to say things that many of us are even frightened to think.
Sitting on the runway waiting to take off I laughed so loudly and gunuinely that the people around me were scrambling for pen and paper to get the name of this book.
The first fifty pages take their time to set the pace but once the character gets in your head it is impossible to get him out and get anything else done..

Well, it's not actually like Robert Kennedy Toole's wonderful book but it does remind me of it.... wild as hell. You'll just have to read it to see what I mean. Don't read it in a public place, though.