We hope you enjoy these highlights from reviews our books received last month. You’ll also catch a few glimpses of what our authors have been up to lately. Take a look!
In a recent Tampa Bay Times op-ed, Brandon Haught looks at science education in Florida’s private schools. Haught is the author of the new book Going Ape: Florida’s Battles over Evolution in the Classroom.
The Tortured Life of Scofield Thayer
by James Dempsey
“What do you call a person who was slandered by Ernest Hemingway, cuckolded by E.E. Cummings, befriended and promoted T.S. Eliot, treated by Sigmund Freud, led modernist art’s charge into American culture in the 1920s and declared officially insane not long after? … A damn good subject for a biography.”—Worcester Magazine
The Worcester Telegram is also intrigued: “Scofield Thayer, in many ways, was a real-life … version of Jay Gatsby.”
Cuban Revelations: Behind the Scenes in Havana
by Marc Frank
“[Frank] hides neither his admiration for Cuba nor his pride at its citizens’ ability to survive the numerous tumultuous times and turbulences that outsiders repeatedly predicted would lead to chaos in the streets and, finally, the end of the Castro regime.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
Fringe Florida: Travels among Mud Boggers, Furries, Ufologists, Nudists, and Other Lovers of Unconventional Lifestylesby Lynn Waddell
“Paradise on earth has become a travel-writing cliché, but if you’re a nudist biker in Florida with a swinger partner, a pet iguana, and a mud buggy, it would seem that you have found yours.”—Weekly Standard
Author Lynn Waddell gave the Huffington Post a behind-the-scenes look at her experience writing Fringe Florida:
“The research forever changed the way I look at the world and the humanity of people who do things many consider weird. Of course, the state is a microcosm of all strangeness, which is what led me to write the book.” (BONUS: You’ll get to read part of a chapter!)
Check out the April/May issue of Pointe Magazine!
Jennifer Kronenberg, principal dancer at Miami City Ballet and author of So, You Want to Be a Ballet Dancer?, is featured in the Dancer Spotlight.
“Unlike many ballerines, Kronenberg, 37, has taught regularly at MCB’s summer intensive. The sometimes startling gaps in her students’ knowledge has inspired Kronenberg to write a how-to guide.”
Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock
by Bob Kealing
Uncut Magazine chose Calling Me Home as one of its best music books of 2013, saying that Bob Kealing “added a layer of detail to the Parsons story missing even from supposedly definitive GP histories.”
The Georgia Historical Quarterly was amazed by the book’s “Faulknerian components of a gothic narrative that even Cormac McCarthy would have difficulty conjuring.”
Enchantments: Julian Dimock’s Photographs of Southwest Florida
by Jerald T. Milanich and Nina J. Root
“A unique and invaluable record of Southwest Florida during the days it was one of the country’s last frontiers.”—Naples Daily News
100-year-old pioneering photographs from this book were displayed last month at the Marco Island Historical Museum. Missed the exhibit? Make sure to pick up a copy of Enchantments!
The Archaeology of French and Indian War Frontier Forts
Edited by Lawrence E. Babits and Stephanie Gandulla
“In this exceptional volume, the authors bring archaeology to the study of this key conflict. Fifteen noted scholars contribute important articles on a good sampling of these forts and the military strategy they represented. … An important contribution to a field of study that is just taking off. It sets the stage for new investigations of the dozens of frontier forts that remain unexplored.”—American Archaeology
Inside Bush v. GoreCharley Wells
“[This] spellbinding book shows the remarkable human side of the Bush v. Gore saga. But more importantly, it captures an essential chapter of Florida history and presents a new and different look at one of the most well-known legal disputes of all time.”—Florida Law Review
Ditch of Dreams: The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida’s Future
by Steven Noll and David Tegeder
“Tells the story of the transformation of twentieth-century American liberalism, the fracturing of the New Deal coalition, and the birth of the environmental movement. … Ditch of Dreams is not only highly readable, it’s still highly relevant as we struggle to balance the need for economic development with the imperative to preserve the natural world.”
Listen to the full interview with author Steven Noll on New Books in American Studies.
Check back next month for more review highlights!
The Florida Bookshelf 