Paradise Lost?: The Environmental History of Florida

Edited by Jack E. Davis and Raymond Arsenault
Foreword by Raymond Arsenault and Gary Mormino, Series Editors

Details: 432 pages     6 x 9
Cloth: $59.95   ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-2826-2   
Paper: $24.95   ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-2962-7   
Pubdate: 6/30/2005
Series: The Florida History and Culture Series
Review(s): 6 available
Sample Chapter(s):
Table of Contents
Introduction


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Overview

"From the earliest descriptions of the state's natural beauty to the degradation of the Everglades, virtually every facet of Florida environment is included in Paradise Lost? Nor have the authors neglected the human side of the story, from William Bartram, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Archie Carr to various development boosters and bureaucrats. . . . A fine collection that will make an important contribution to environmental history generally and to the history of Florida in particular."--Timothy Silver, Appalachian State University

"A magnificent contribution to Florida's environmental history and a fascinating analysis of 'paradise lost' in the land of the pink flamingos and Disney."--Carolyn Johnston, Eckerd College

This collection of essays surveys the environmental history of the Sunshine State, from Spanish exploration to the present, and provides an organized, detailed overview of the reciprocal relationship between humans and Florida's unique peninsular ecology. It is divided into four thematic sections: explorers and naturalists; science, technology, and public policy; despoliation; and conservationists and environmentalists. The contributors describe the evolving environmental policies and practices of the state and federal governments and the dynamic interaction between the Florida environment and many social and cultural groups including the Spanish, English, Americans, southerners, northerners, men, and women. They have applied historical methodology and also drawn on the methodologies of the fields of political science, cultural anthropology, and sociology.

Of obvious value to environmentalists and general readers interested in Florida's history, exploration, and development, the book will also serve as a solid introduction to the subject for undergraduates and graduate students.

Jack E. Davis is associate professor of history at University of Florida. Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and director of the University Honors College at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.
 

Other RAYMOND ARSENAULT Books

The Changing South of Gene Patterson: Journalism and Civil Rights, 1960-1968
 

Other JACK DAVIS Books

The Wide Brim: Early Poems and Ponderings of Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Making Waves: Female Activists in Twentieth-Century Florida

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