Browse by Subject: History

Please note that while you may order forthcoming books at any time, they will not be available for shipment until shortly before publication date

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Sunshine Paradise: A History of Florida Tourism

The first book to focus exclusively on how—and why—tourism came to define Florida. Offering a concise look at the subject from the 1820s to the present, Tracy Revels demonstrates tourism’s relevance to all other major aspects of Florida history, including the Civil War, the land boom, and civil rights.

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Yamato Colony: The Pioneers Who Brought Japan to Florida

Opening a window onto the little-known Japanese-American heritage of Florida, Yamato Colony is the true tale of a daring immigrant venture that left behind an important legacy. Ryusuke Kawai tells how a Japanese farming settlement came to be in south Florida, far from other Japanese communities in the United States.

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Latino Orlando: Suburban Transformation and Racial Conflict

Latino Orlando portrays the experiences of first- and second-generation immigrants who have come to the Orlando metropolitan area from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and other Latin American countries. While much research on immigration focuses on urban destinations, Simone Delerme delves into a middle- and upper-class suburban context, highlighting the profound demographic and cultural transformation of an overlooked immigrant hub.

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The Public Health Nurses of Jim Crow Florida

Highlighting the long unacknowledged role of a group of pioneering professional women, The Public Health Nurses of Jim Crow Florida tells the story of healthcare workers who battled racism in a state where white supremacy formed the bedrock of society. They aimed to serve those people out of reach of modern medical care.  

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Deadly Virtue: Fort Caroline and the Early Protestant Roots of American Whiteness

In Deadly Virtue, Heather Martel argues that the French Protestant attempt to colonize Florida in the 1560s significantly shaped the developing concept of race in sixteenth-century America. Telling the story of the short-lived French settlement of Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, Martel reveals how race, gender, sexuality, and Christian morality intersected to form the foundations of modern understandings of whiteness.

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The Modern Republican Party in Florida

Despite Florida’s current reputation as a swing state, there was a time when its Republicans were the underdogs against a Democratic powerhouse. This book tells the story of how the Republican Party of Florida became the influential force it is today.  

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Jacksonville: The Consolidation Story, from Civil Rights to the Jaguars

The decision to consolidate with surrounding Duval County began the transformation of this conservative, Deep South, backwater city into a prosperous, mainstream metropolis.

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The Letters of George Long Brown: A Yankee Merchant on Florida's Antebellum Frontier

This book collects previously unpublished letters written by a merchant in north Florida before the Civil War, offering a view of the region's transformation to a market economy due in part to its increased reliance on slavery.

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How the New Deal Built Florida Tourism: The Civilian Conservation Corps and State Parks

Countering the conventional narrative that Florida’s tourism industry suffered during the Great Depression, this book shows that the 1930s were, in reality, the starting point for much that characterizes modern Florida’s tourism. David Nelson argues that state and federal government programs designed to reboot the economy during this decade are crucial to understanding the state today.

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Picturing Apollo 11: Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments

Through a wealth of unpublished and recently discovered images, this book presents new and rarely seen views of the people, places, and events involved in planning, accomplishing, and commemorating the first Moon landing.