Florida Books

If you have never read a Hiaasen, now is the perfect time to read one. With Bushes in the White House and in Tallahassee, Hiaasen is in high order. He takes on the tawdry, vulgar and barbarian of Florida, from Cuban intolerance to Orange Bowl stupidity to the destruction of the Everglades and the ever-increasing northern immigration into the state. While in his heart he may yearn for a Florida that will never again exist he has a ruthless cynicism that will have you howling and should have most Floridians saying "How true, how true." The pity is that any part of this country that has been sold down the river to developers, raped of it's natural beauty and sold to anyone with money to donate to some local scoundrel's campaign should have a Hiaasen. To say that these are three of his very very best is impossible because each one I finish becomes my favorite until the next one comes out (he produces a new novel about every two to three years and while you are waiting you can always go back to the beginning--Tourist Season--and start all over again.) Of these three, Stormy Weather is my favorite. It is his view of the second "hurricane" of charlatans, rednecks, insurance peddlers and assorted thieves and scoundrels that invaded southern Florida after the big hurricane--Andrew--leveled the territory in the 90's. Hiaasen's style is the modified murder(s) mystery--you know whodunit immediately but the fun comes in tracking down the bad guys and in the knife sharp jibes he takes at all things along the way. Hiassen is a columnist for the Miami Herald--one of the nation's great newspapers--and he goes after local politicians and blowhards with the same gusto that you will find in his books. Some refer to his writing as within the genre of Southern Florida writers--Buchanan, Macdonald are two other examples--but each is unique in his or her own style. Of the three, Hiassen is the sassiest, the boldest, the one who makes me laugh until tears cloud my reading over and over again. Skin Tight is about a portrait of the plastic surgery business in Florida and he approaches the subject with a very sharp scalpel; Sick Puppy is pure GOP at the current time, if you have read about the "game preserves" that are being stocked in Texas so weekend big game hunters can go out and shoot something wild--but in captivity. I do not mean to suggest that Hiaasen is Republican or Democrat necessarily--he finds plenty of rascals in both camps. Please, please, please read just one of his books--you won't be able to pass the next one by and if you have never read any of his books, I envy you--you have hours and hours of pure reading pleasure (as they say) to enjoy.

Mark Foster does a terrific job defining the character and accomplishments of Carl Graham Fisher. This incredible life story played a far larger role in shaping America in the 20th centuty than most people understand. Largely forgotten, Fisher set the tone for American leisure time, and gave his heart to everything he did. Foster's insights to Fisher's motives and values provide a fascinating portrait of a man whose legacy lives on in Miami and in every turn of the wheel in American auto racing. Great reading!

I work in a college career center in the Orlando Metro area and this book is one of the most valuable resources that is available for our students who want to find a job locally. My only wish is that a new edition, which would include all available websites, be published now.

This book is an explosion of adventure...
Here's a couple that took a chance and got paid big rewards for the inconvenience of living on a remote (in the 1930s) island. I loved it, my two teenage boys loved it, as did my wife, 2 brother-in-laws, cousin and best friend.
Don't miss out on a full lifetime lived in just a couple of years in the Florida keys, where wild is an understatement.

Sheila Delany provides an important insight into Chaucer's view of the world in her definition of his complex perception of religious reality . His ' skeptical fideism' his belief which incorporates doubt and question is a central sign of the sophistication of the Chaucerian world- view. Delany writes clearly and interestingly in a scholarly study which the general reader can also greatly enjoy.

Mr. Zoretich is a master sleuth at finding and putting into the words the best of the out-of-the-way, the forgotten, the overlooked, the by-passed, yes, sometimes even downtrodden museum or a million other affordable places (and faces) that make up a great time for you to spend weeks of curious afternoons beating about in Florida.

The Sunshine State is a land full of extraordinary attractions, no doubt, but worthless if you don't know about them outside the gates of the themeparks. This book is a guide to seeing the side of Florida real people hope to see, the kind of people who like road side diners and listening to local dialects.

This book saves you from that nagging feeling that there is more to Florida (the bottom half) and your vacation than can be seen out the car window or discovered from the travel brochures, giving you answers AND directions to find the funky, the zany, the outrageous, the unbelievable, the cool.

Mr. Zoretich, in real life, is a quintessential journalist who lives to tell you about it, as zany as the zaniest just this side of Hunter Thompson (not really, he is from Cleveland but he is a character). He finds and writes about Americana in a way deserving of a Pulitzer. He writes about these people and their hidden places with wit, charm, and respect.

Buy this book and save your vacation if you are looking for more than the canned Disney or Miami Vice Floridian experience. Heck, buy the book and read it even if you are not going to Florida (or if you already live there--you'll learn something new about your state for sure).

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Florida is not so beautiful if you're abused and bilked. Get the real truth about the fraud and abuse of the elderly and not so elderly and read "Retirement Nightmare" by Diane Armstrong. To avoid a guardianship in the State of Florida, and other states, should be of paramount importance. Find out how to protect yourself and your loved ones with alternatives: health care surrogate, durable power of attorney, mediation and more. Consider that if you leave your parents to fend for themselves, and ignore the deterioration associated with aging, a guardian can gain a guardianship over them and their assets, without informing you. That guardianship will nullify the most meticulous of plans. To really cover your aging parents, make sure they create a "Pre-need" guardianship and name someone they trust, this is the only way predators in the retirement homes will not be able to force guardianship on them. Also create an irrevocable trust.

Christ and Culture at Corinth: An overview by Ferrell Jenkins
Corinth: A Divided Church by C. G. "Colly" Caldwell
Sanctified in Christ by Martin Pickup
Let All Things Be Done in Love by H. E. "Buddy" Payne, Jr.
Paul's Work at Corinth by Mike Willis
The Wisdom of God Versus the Wisdom of Men by Bob Hutto
The Corinthians and Their Teachers by Frank Himmel
Clean Out the Old Leaven by Jim Jonas
Lawsuits With One Another by Earl Kimbrough
Questions About Marriage by Bob Waldron
Personal Liberty and the Brethren by Bob Dickey
Take Heed Lest You Fall by Douglas K. Seaton
Relationship of Man and Woman by Randy Harshbarger
When You Come Together by Bill Feist
Concerning Spiritual Gifts by Carl McMurray
The Resurrection: Each in His Own Order by David Owen

Relations between Christians and Muslims go back nearly 1,400 years and have been troubled on many levels through nearly that entire span of time. The twenty-eight contributions to this substantial tome do not offer an overview of these complex interactions but constitute a miscellany of journal-type articles-interesting in themselves but too scattered to provide a coherent picture. Some authors deal with theological issues ("What say ye of Muhammad"?) while others concern themselves with the issues on the ground (communal relations between Muslims, Christians, and Hindus in the Indian state of Kerala). We learn about such arcana as the impressions of early modern French travelers of Muslim death practices and the attitude of John Calvin on Islamic theology; but nothing about the Crusades or the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.

Even so, the scholarship does point to some major themes: (1) the Christian-Muslim experience on every level has been primarily one of confrontation, from military to theological; (2) bright spots have appeared increasingly over the centuries, as believers of liberal spirit on both sides have sought to go beyond hostility; and (3) even as the masses continue the antagonistic relations of old, some religious leaders are trying to reach out and find common ground. So far, however, these efforts are more notable for the goodwill that animates them than for their actual accomplishments.

Middle East Quarterly, March 1996

William Hathaway has a rare gift of the ability to put pure emotion as well as wit into words. This collection of poems is an essential read as well as an important part of a permanent collection for anyone interested in the best poetry available today.