Florida State Books

James Snyder's A Light in the Wilderness is a brilliantly written, extraordinarily well-researched Florida history classic. Easy to read and full of a number of fascinating vintage photos, the reader is taken on a magical mystery tour of sorts involving a colorful cast of characters including everything from Caribbean pirates and Seminole warriors to Civil War blockade runners. Snyder's dry sense of humor adds wit to an already spirited and exciting story. This book is a must for Florida history lovers.

Glenn Swift
Writer/Editor
[...]

Lincoln's Lost Legacy: The Republican Party and the African American Vote, 1928-1952 is a scholarly study of an astounding shift in American politics - how the Republican party, once the party of President Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, lost the support and the votes of the descendants of the black slaves it once freed. Why did so many African-Americans leave the Grand Old Party and join the ranks of the Democratic Party in the 1930s and 40s? Author Simon Topping (lecturer of American Studies at the University of Plymouth, England) reveals how, during 1928-1952, the Republican party shifted toward an institution favoring big business and small government - and how it utterly neglected the concerns of African-Americans, in particularly dragging its feet on such issues as anti-lynching laws and the abolishment of the poll tax. "To make matters worse, the GOP repeatedly fashioned ad hoc alliances with the Dixiecrats, the worst elements of American politics, throughout the period. The Dixiecrats were antidemocratic and unashamedly racist, lacked any real mandate, were utterly contemptuous of northern (and, indeed, world) public opinion, and were answerable only to themselves... these racist reactionaries, due to their entrenched positions within Congress, were much more important politically to both the Democrats and the Republicans than African Americans, regardless of the strategic importance of the black vote in the north. African Americans were extremely badly let down by both parties." An absolute must-have for any library or private collection strong in American political history.

This book is very informative, with good pictures and descriptions of the most popular dive spots in the area of the Florida Keys

This book gives detailed and specific information useful to someone who wants to thoroughly explore these areas. Subjects such as the best places and times to view different types of wildlife in the Everglades, and where you can feed huge tarpon off of a dock are covered in useful detail. If you're looking for the best beach resort, or best nightclub, you will probably be disappointed, but those more interested in nature, history, and the people of the area will be satisfied.

"Louis William DuBourg" is the a well researched and thorough biography of a most significant figure in the Catholic Church in the early United States and in his French homeland. It also provides the reader with an insight into the tempestuous world of DuBourg's day.

DuBourg's life spanned centuries and continents. Born in Saint-Domingue, the current Cap Hatien, Haiti in 1766, he moved to his family's home in Bourdeaux, France at the age of two. Throughout his life efforts to recover lost family properties at Saint-Dominigue would remain an interest and distraction. A member of a large and prosperous family, Louis sought an ecclesiastical career by enrolling at Saint-Sulpice, the most prestigious French seminary of his day. He was ordained in 1790, in a France torn by Revolution. As the years of turmoil ravaged the Gallic Church, DuBourg and many other clergy were forced to seek asylum in other countries. Fleeing to Spain, DuBourg remained there until the outbreak of war between France and Spain in 1793 made Émigrés unwelcome guests and sent them off again. For DuBourg, this meant the fledging United States where this scholar found a field of service in Baltimore and Georgetown. Serving as President of Georgetown College (now University) and St. Mary's College in Baltimore, DuBourg made important contributions to the growth of both the Church and education in his adopted nation. While in Maryland, DuBourg played a significant role in the spiritual direction of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and her establishment at Emmitsburg, Maryland.

When the American Episcopate expanded in the early 19th century, the primary candidates were French Revolutionary Exiles. Dubourg was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas in 1812, although his actual elevation to the post of bishop was deferred for three years due to the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII by Napoleon.

Upon arrival at his new post, DuBourg found an unreceptive field in New Orleans so he chose to establish his residence in the much smaller community of St. Louis for three years. Although conditions in St. Louis were primitive, DuBourg's contacts and travels in Europe and elsewhere were to yield an impressive crop of recruits from religious orders which continue to serve the Church in Missouri to this day. He established St. Louis College which is now St. Louis University, a premier educational institution of the Middle West. While in St. Louis DuBourg was a spiritual guide to another saint, this time St. Philippine Duchesne, whom he recruited to serve in Florissant, Missouri.

Finding conditions more suitable, DuBourg relocated to New Orleans where he worked, with inconsistent success until 1826 when he was appointed Bishop of Montauban, France. During his service in New Orleans he had the distinction of presiding over prayers for victory in the Battle of New Orleans and welcoming Gen. Andrew Jackson to the Cathedral for the Thanksgiving Service.

Returning to France, DuBourg served as Bishop of Montauban from 1826-33, succeeding a former Bishop of Boston. In the last year of his life he served briefly as Archbishop of Bescacon in Franche-Comte until his death in 1833.

DuBourg is a representative of a generation of clerics who crossed the Atlantic as their need and opportunities shifted. Driven out of France by Revolution, they contributed to the growth of a new country and its religious tradition. In so doing, they obtained experience which matured their vocations so that, when France called them to rebuild the Church that had been ravaged by the Revolution which drove them into exile, they were ready.

DuBourg had the vision thing in spades, but his vision was often hampered by his lack of practicality. Fortunately he attracted men and women who could turn his dreams into reality. Although he regarded himself as a failure when he left New Orleans, DuBourg had succeeded in America more than he could have realized.

This book is long and detailed, but never boring. I read it to obtain an in depth understanding of DuBourg for a presentation which I am scheduled to make. This book is a bit extensive for the casual reader. For one with an interest in the early history of St. Louis or New Orleans, it is a must. For the student of the French Revolution and its people's response to it as well as the influence they had on the world, it is a valuable work. I enjoyed it. If you are as interested in the topics outlined above as I am, so will you.

This is a very informative and well written account of the labor industry in Florida. Very well researched, and also covers both sides of the fence as well. Well done Jeff!

This is an outstanding biography of an early civil rights activist who has not received adequate attention for his pioneering work in voting rights for African-Americans in Virginia prior to 1950.

Professor Dennis' work discusses Jackson's remarkable family as well as his innovative work in forging progressive coalitions in Virginia to support voting rights.

Hopefully, this biography will spark other studies of Jackson.

This book has an awesome narrative style that will keep students, history buffs and anybody interested. Mr. Amin's vast body of research and insightful illustrations shed great light on a sorely under-researched and very timely topic. This is a must-read!

I have an old book by Mark Catesby. Half is in French and half in English, it is supposed to one of two volumes, it is not in very good shape,and most of the plates are missing. Do you have any thing more you could tell me about this book?

Martha Graham did not want to call her dances representative of a particular technique. There should be "no school of movements" she said. But her dances have a signature, a collection of characteristics that distinguishes them from those of other choreographers. And her signature is the finest of the cursive writing of movement. Graham never scribbled: the swirls that her dances executed are Heraclitean kinetic proof of her exemplary penmanship. And for Graham, gravity is not to be defied but to be exploited: falls to the floor are not prohibited, but encouraged.

The ensemble of opinion, the "witnesses to the technique" by those who knew her, danced under her direction, or worked with her is expressed superbly in this book. There is a wide variation in these opinions, but universal agreement on the unique and superb quality of the dances of Martha Graham. Whether one calls it contraction and release, starkness of movement, twists in the torso, movement packed into the instant of action, great body swings, or spiraling around the spine, it is clear that the Graham technique requires discipline as well as the creation of things new. The dancer must depart from the patterns of the past as well as master them. The dancer must indulge herself in what is old and be refreshed in the excitement of originality.

It is remarkable but not at all surprising that Martha Graham lived as long as she did. Dancing extends life. All human cultures have some sort of dance. There are no exceptions. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche could not believe in a god who did not dance. If he had seen the dances of Martha Graham, he no doubt would have imputed deity status to her and her dancers.