Florida's dark chapters : the violent, unsavory and sometimes bizarre history of the Sunshine State / Michael G. Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hall, Michael G. (Executive director), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Florida--History.

Florida.

Physical Description:

viii, 275 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2024]

Summary:

"Anyone who has ever traveled to Florida immediately assumes they've got the state figured out. It usually involves the common tropes we see splashed across news and social media: Disney, Miami, alligators, heat, retirees and weird people. As a result, very few people try to dig any deeper. This book explores the darkest parts of Florida's past. These stories, told out in sequential order and broken down by theme, contain everything that has come to make up the Sunshine State: from the surprising, to the weird, to the horrifying, and, in some cases, inspiring. Topics covered include Florida in the Age of Exploration, pirates, Spanish colonialism, the Seminole Wars, slavery and race relations during the Civil War, Prohibition, segregation, disco and drugs, serial killers, economic ruin, urbanism, and Florida in the age of DeSantis"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : embracing the darkness

Bounty, belligerency and bloodlust : Florida in the age of exploration

Dead man's chest : Florida's flirtation with pirates, privateers and pillagers

A tale of two Floridas : Spanish twilight in the era of American expansion

Guerrillas in the mist : Florida's Seminole wars

In the shadow of the big house : Florida, slavery and race relations during the Civil War

Florida brews a revolution

Boom! Goes the landscape : Florida on the brink

The era of blood and retribution : Florida in the days of prohibition and wise guys

We shall overcome : Florida in the dark days of xenophobia, segregation and purple panic

Drugs, disco and decadence : Florida in the '70s and '80s

Blood and riots : serial killers and destruction in the twilight of the twentieth century

Politics, terror and economic ruin : Florida leaves its mark on the world

Retirees of a different kind : dictators and death leaders

Towns like no other : Florida's "new" urbanism

Demagoguery, disease and division : Florida in the age of Desantis

Conclusion : a trip through the darkness and back.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781476691213

1476691215

OCLC:

1391214277

Publisher Number:

90100031019