Looking for gift ideas for your friends and family this holiday season? In this guide, we’re highlighting some of the great new books we’ve published this year. Browse our selection of good reads on food history, outdoor adventure, the arts, history, and more to find the perfect gift for every person on your list.
All our books are on sale with $2 shipping through December 16, 2022. Orders over $50 will receive a free tote bag while supplies last. To order, visit upress.ufl.edu and use code XM22 at checkout.
For the foodie
The Cuban Sandwich: A History in Layers
Andrew T. Huse, Bárbara C. Cruz, and Jeff Houck
How did the Cuban sandwich become a symbol for a displaced people, win the hearts and bellies of America, and claim a spot on menus around the world? The odyssey of the Cubano begins with its hazy origins in the midnight cafés of Havana, from where it evolved into a dainty high-class hors d’oeuvre and eventually became a hearty street snack devoured by cigar factory workers. In The Cuban Sandwich, three devoted fans—Andrew Huse, Bárbara Cruz, and Jeff Houck—sort through improbable vintage recipes, sift gossip from Florida old-timers, and wade into the fearsome Tampa vs. Miami sandwich debate (is adding salami necessary or heresy?) to reveal the social history behind how this delicacy became a lunch-counter staple in the US and beyond.
For the live music fan
Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East
Bob Beatty
In Play All Night!, Bob Beatty dives deep into the motivations and musical background of Allman Brothers Band founder Duane Allman to tell the story of what made At Fillmore East not just a smash hit, but one of the most important live rock albums in history. Featuring insights from bootleg tapes, radio ads, early reviews, never-before-published photos, and the memories of band members, fans, and friends, Beatty chronicles how Allman rejected the traditional route of music business success—hit singles and record sales—and built a band that was at its best jamming live on stage, feeding off the crowd’s energy, and pushing each other to new heights of virtuosic improvisation.
For the family historian
Dreams in the New Century: Instant Cities, Shattered Hopes, and Florida’s Turning Point
Gary R. Mormino
In this book, eminent historian Gary Mormino illuminates early twenty-first-century Florida and its connections to some of the most significant events in contemporary American history. As Mormino shows, Florida is a place of deep conflicts—North and South, liberal and conservative, newcomer and local, growth and conservation—with histories that can be traced back centuries. In 2000-2010, Mormino argues, these tensions collided to produce a “Big Bang” that will continue to resonate in years to come.
Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away: Memories of Early Cuban Exiles
David Powell
Bringing together an unprecedented number of extensive personal stories, this book shares the triumphs and heartbreaking moments experienced by some of the first Cubans to come to the United States after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Offering historical background that illuminates this pivotal period in the context of the Cold War, this book is a powerful portrayal of the initial effects of a revolution that began a new era in Cuba’s relationship with the world.
For the writer
Home in Florida: Latinx Writers and the Literature of Uprootedness
Edited by Anjanette Delgado
Showcasing a variety of voices shaped in and by a place that has been for them a crossroads and a land of contradictions, Home in Florida presents a selection of the best literature of displacement and uprootedness by some of the most talented contemporary Latinx writers who have called Florida home. Featuring fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by Richard Blanco, Jaquira Díaz, Patricia Engel, Jennine Capó Crucet, Reinaldo Arenas, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and many others, this collection of renowned and award-winning contributors includes several who are celebrated in their countries of origin but have not yet been discovered by readers in the United States. The writers in this volume—first-, second-, and third-generation immigrants to Florida from Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Perú, Argentina, Chile, and other countries—reflect the diversity of Latinx experiences across the state.
For the dancer
Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century
Edited by Lindsay Guarino, Carlos R.A. Jones, and Wendy Oliver
An African American art form, jazz dance has an inaccurate historical narrative that often sets Euro-American aesthetics and values at the inception of the jazz dance genealogy. The roots were systemically erased and remain widely marginalized and untaught, and the devaluation of its Africanist origins and lineage has largely gone unchallenged. Decolonizing contemporary jazz dance practice, this book examines the state of jazz dance theory, pedagogy, and choreography in the twenty-first century, recovering and affirming the lifeblood of jazz in Africanist aesthetics and Black American culture.
For the friend who’s always off the grid
Paddler’s Guide to the Sunshine State
Sandy Huff and Lars Andersen
Second Edition
Featuring a wide variety of paddling trips from the panhandle to the Keys, Paddler’s Guide to the Sunshine State provides an insider’s scoop on canoeing, kayaking, and standup paddleboarding in Florida. This easy-to-use guide equips paddlers of every level with a toolbox of skills for their adventure on the water, from trip planning to journey’s end. It highlights practical tips for equipment and safety as well as opportunities for viewing wildlife along the most notable and scenic of Florida waterways.
For the newcomer who wants to put down roots
Adventures of a Transplanted Gardener: Advice for New Florida Gardeners
Ginny Stibolt
Ideal for gardeners new to Florida and residents who want to try their hands at gardening for the first time, this starter guide helps readers learn to grow plants in the state’s unique natural environment. Botanist and lifelong gardener Ginny Stibolt shares helpful stories, advice, and tips from her own experience moving to Florida, where she discovered that the rules she had followed for years did not apply.
Your Florida Guide to Butterfly Gardening: A Guide for the Deep South
Jaret C. Daniels
Second Edition
In this easy-to-use and brightly illustrated introductory guide, lepidopterist Jaret Daniels shows beginners how to create a haven for butterflies and other flower-loving wildlife in Florida and throughout the Deep South. This second edition is updated with new photographs and expanded to include additional species of butterflies.
For the armchair entomologist
The Surprising Lives of Bark Beetles: Mighty Foresters of the Insect World
Jiri Hulcr and Marc Abrahams
This lively book turns cutting-edge research into an enjoyable tour through the miniature world of a charming critter. Vivid macrophotography captures every aspect of bark beetle life in stunning detail, from their dramatic family stories and curiously endearing looks to their mating strategies, and the secret fungus farms where they cultivate their own “ambrosia.” You’ll learn how much we don’t know about bark beetles—and what that means for science’s attempts to control them as climate change alters their habitats.
For the person who always remembers to recycle
Forces of Nature: A History of Florida Land Conservation
Clay Henderson
Despite Florida’s important place at the beginning of the American conservation movement and its notable successes in the fight against environmental damage, the full story of land conservation in the state has not yet been told. In this comprehensive history, Clay Henderson celebrates the individuals and organizations who made the Sunshine State a leader in state-funded conservation and land preservation.
For the community activist
Lost Storytellers: The Information Apocalypse in the Modern Newsroom
John Pendygraft
An incisive and firsthand look at the landscape of community news today, Lost Storytellers argues that the decline of local journalism threatens the future of democracy. Award-winning photojournalist John Pendygraft asks: How did Americans lose trust in the media, and how can their local newsrooms earn it back?
Maximum Vantage: New Selected Columns
Bill Maxwell
In this collection of columns spanning the years 2000-2019, veteran journalist Bill Maxwell tackles important issues faced by Florida and broader American society that remain as relevant as ever. Demonstrating the courage to take on controversy and the signature pithy style that have won him a nationwide readership, Maxwell offers his opinion on a wide variety of questions with a focus on race, agricultural labor, education, and the environment.
Writing for the Public Good: Essays from David R. Colburn and Senator Bob Graham
Edited by Steven Noll
Writing for the Public Good presents a selection of over 100 important opinion pieces from David R. Colburn and Senator Bob Graham, two of the most influential public figures in contemporary Florida. Spanning 30 years and addressing a wide variety of topics that continue to be relevant today, these essays show the key role of Florida in modern American life and politics and illustrate the power of civic engagement in tackling issues facing the nation.
To order any of these books at discount prices and to receive $2 shipping, visit upress.ufl.edu and use code XM22 at checkout. Sale ends December 16, 2022.
Orders over $50 will receive a free tote bag while supplies last.
We wish all our readers a wonderful holiday season!
The Florida Bookshelf 