Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State, Paperback

Longlisted for the National Book Award and a "Kirkus Reviews" Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Over the centuries, Florida has been many things: an unconquered realm protected by geography, a wilderness that ruined Spanish conquistadors, god s waiting room, and a place to start over. Depopulated after the extermination of its original native population, today it s home to nineteen million. The site of vicious racial violence, including massacres, slavery, and the roll-back of Reconstruction, Florida is now one of our most diverse states, a dynamic multicultural place with an essential role in 21st-century America. In "Finding Florida," journalist T. D. Allman reclaims the remarkable history of Florida from the state s mythologizers, apologists, and boosters. Allman traces the discovery, exploration, and settlement of Florida, its transformation from a swamp to paradise. Palm Beach, Key West, Miami, Tampa, and Orlando boomed, fortunes were won and lost, land was stolen and flipped, and millions arrived. The product of a decade of research and writing, Finding Florida is a highly original, stylish, and masterful work, the first modern comprehensive history of this fascinating place."