Surrounded on Three Sides
by John
Keasler
Foreword by Les Standiford and Diane L. Stevenson
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—from the book
"That crazy bastard is famous! If he moves
here—wherever he moves—it will be news. It will
be on every wire service. It will be in every column. And
just what will be the first public reaction?" . . .
"My god," Paul said, "You’re
right."
"Paul, do you know how a resort area starts?"
A stricken Paul Higgins sat up and stared, hearing the
shiny bulldozer.
Escaping the cold, frantic world of New York public
relations, Paul Higgins moves his family to rustic,
undeveloped southwest Florida, where peace and quiet are
assured. That is, until a celebrated author moves into
the neighborhood and Higgins devises "the hard
unsell," a series of ingenious and hilarious public
relations efforts to discourage people from moving to
Flat City and to scare off tourists, investors, and
developers in the process.
Keasler’s 1958 novel is remarkable both for its
humor and for its early portrayal of the dilemma of
Florida growth, a theme later explored in depth by John
D. MacDonald and elevated to satirical heights in Carl
Hiaasen’s Tourist Season. Between the land
boom and the explosive growth beginning in the sixties,
Keasler captured in the figure of Paul Higgins the
aspirations of millions who seek Florida as an escape and
the fanatical opposition to development of those other
millions who have already arrived and desperately want to
close the door behind them.
A Florida Sand Dollar
Book
Novelist and journalist John Keasler wrote nearly 7,000
humor columns during his 30-year career at the old Miami
News, and he also covered the major historical
events of the time, including Kennedy's assassination and
Neil Armstrong's trip to the moon. Keasler died in Plant
City in 1996, and was remembered by the Miami Herald
as having left "a legacy of love for his home
state."
1999. 224pp. 6 X 9.
ISBN 0-8130-1710-6 Paper, $14.95
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"A
jaunty, outstandingly human, and highly successful satire
on the habits and ways of professional promoters, on
‘progress’ in Florida. . . and a lot of other
things."—Chicago Tribune
"A delightful discovery for the general reader of
Florida fiction."—Les Standiford
Titles of
Related Interest:
Kick Ass,
Selected Columns of Carl Hiaasen,
Carl Hiaasen, edited by Diane Stevenson
Getting Naked with Harry Crews,
edited by Erik Bledsoe
Sunshine States,
Wild Times and Extraordinary Lives in the Land of Gators,
Guns, and Grapefruit,
by Patrick Carr
Gladesmen,
Gator Hunters, Moonshiners, and Skiffers,
by Glen Simmons and Laura Ogden
The Tropic of Cracker,
by Al Burt
Some Kind of Paradise,
A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida,
by Mark Derr
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our list of Florida titles
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