Florida Books

This true and gruesome account of the systematic torture and killing of a human being as a public spectacle is an outrage to humanity. This story unveils a very hidden period in American history and is a very descriptive account of racial hatred and racial control gone too far. Even though this book is very chilling tale, it is a story that needed to be published and needs to be read by everyone. This book was required reading in a crime and political order class I took when I was an undergraduate. I thought I was a well-read American history buff, but after reading this, I am fascinated that I was completely unaware of the public and sanctioned torture of Americans from the end of slavery until the civil rights movement for the first 23 years of my life. The period in American history where racial hatred was acted upon and justified is not far behind us and this documentation is an important account of terror that is not often mentioned.

Written by a professor of anthropology at Texas State University San Marcos, The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research carefully reviews the abundances of research and discoveries of ancient Maya settlements, striving to collect and integrate information gathered since the publications of Gordon Willey's classic analysis decades ago. Carefully edited and intended to serve as an interim publication pointing the way to long-term production of final site reports, The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley explores the land, the evidence, and the theories that can be drawn in meticulous detail, and points the way to future discoveries and reinterpretations of commonly held beliefs concerning long-ago civilizations. An outstanding contribution to archaeological reference and study.

Poverty Point in Louisiana is the grand-daddy of all Indian mounds in the US. Built in the shape of a amphitheater on a low ridge overlooking the swamps of the Mississippi River, Poverty Point is 3,500 years old. Author Gibson, an archaelogist, gives us a vivid, speculative picture of the people who built Poverty Point

You can skip the first two chapters which cover the history of theories about Poverty Point. Chapter Three begins the description of the place. Gibson goes through chapters about who lived at Poverty Point, their economy, politics, religion, equipment, and how they built the massive earthworks -- which consist of six concentric half-moon rings spread over a square kilometer of ground -- an enormous undertaking. It wasn't the first mound built in the United States -- but it was far larger than any previous structures.

The Poverty Point people, in Gibson's view, were pre-agricultural hunters and gatherers which makes their achievement even more remarkable. They lacked stones, so rocks for spearheads and other tools were imported from hundreds of miles away. What did they exchange for the rocks? Gibson doesn't know. That's an unanswered question. What did they eat? Gibson says mainly fish from the lakes and bayous nearly surrounding the place. Was Poverty Point only a ceremonial site? If not how many people lived there? Gibson calls it a residential site but doesn't believe it was large enough to be called a city.

This book blends archaelogical findings with ethnology, common sense and, frankly, guesswork -- but guesses by an expert on the subject. As the oldest major Indian ruin in the United States, Poverty Point has a mystical significance similar in my mind to Stonehenge.

Smallchief

Angel Cuadra's text offers a first hand account of the Castro regime's squashing of independent artists and forcing Cuban art and culture into the narrow confines of Castroite ideology.

Angels of the Swamp is a great adventure for kids and adults. I am 33 and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has facts mixed in with the fiction making it educational as well as inspiring. The nature lover will love this story, especially those who have grown up close to the west coast of Florida. It made me want to move back to my little home town on the gulf and live like Taffy, Jeff, and Jody did. I hope to read it to my boys and awaken the adventurer in them.

This little guide fits nicely into a daypack or pocket for quick access. Provides info on more than 50 different mammal, bird, amphib and reptile species. It includes track patterns and a little info on each animal. Not a super specific guide, but one can only fit so much info into a pocket guide.

I just finished reading this book and as usual Joyce Marie Taylor never ceases to amaze me with her creative writing. This book was yet another one of her books that I found hard to put down. The story of Andy & Katarina is not what I thought it was going to be. When I got to the end of the book I found myself in awe. I love the mystery that Joyce brings to her books as well as the romance.

This is one of the greatest books for collectors--especially if you're into trains from pre-war through the 60's. Too bad it's out of print!!

Author Katie Ball ignores the Florida stereotypes to reveal what the locals really love about FL. The great music! Any true Music lover should own this book. Don't leave home with out it!

The Apalachee Indians and Mission San Luis is one of the most physically attractive books ever produced by an academic press. Its hundreds of photographs, drawings, and panoramic paintings bring to life a long buried Indian town and Spanish colonial regional capital. The authors help establish the importance of the overlooked yet once great chiefdoms of the Southeast and of the abortive but still influential efforts of the Spanish to make those chiefdoms part of their empire. At the same time, the authors vividly reconstruct the daily life of the Indians and Europeans who lived and died at San Luis. Hann and McEwan show commendable sensitivity to the native Apalachee inhabitants in the process. This is a book that can satisfy readers of history, Native American studies, or archeology at several levels.