The Everglades

An Environmental History

by David McCally

Winner of the Rembert Patrick Annual Book Award

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Now in paperback!

This important work for general readers and environmentalists alike offers the first major discussion of the formation, development, and history of the Everglades, considered by many to be the most endangered ecosystem in North America. Comprehensive in scope, it begins with south Florida's geologic origins--before the Everglades became wetlands--and continues through the 20th century, when sugar reigns as king of the Everglades Agricultural Area.

Charting the effects of human intervention upon the region, David McCally traces its habitation from the Calusas and other native groups to the modern period dominated by agribusiness. In between, he discusses the Spanish contact period, the first efforts to farm the region, the first attempts in the 1880s to drain it, and the era of the "engineered" Everglades that was largely created by the state of Florida and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Today, he declares, the desire to convert the ecosystem to farm use continues to guide American thinking about the region at a tremendous environmental cost.

Urging restoration of the Everglades, McCally argues that agriculture, especially sugar growing, must be abandoned or altered. To buy time for public debate over the final form of a sustainable Everglades, he suggests the creation of a park modeled on New York's Adirondack State Park. Sure to be influential in all discussions of Florida's future, The Everglades also will be significant for environmentalists focused on any area of North America.

David McCally teaches U.S. history at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus, and environmental history at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg.

The Florida History and Culture Series

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1999. 240pp. 6 X 9.
15 b&w photos, 23 figures, 2 tables, notes, bibliography, index

ISBN 0-8130-1648-7 Cloth, $49.95s
ISBN 0-8130-1827-7 Paper, $19.95

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"Readers don't have to be environmentalists to enjoy this detailed and lively environmental history of the Everglades. Those interested in anthropology, geology, and American history will also find much to fascinate them." -- Library Journal

"This is a powerful book that might disturb some and energize others." -- St. Petersburg Times

"At once both an incisive history of the sugar industry in the Everglades and a powerful argument for safeguarding the most endangered ecosystem in North America."-- World Commodity Report

"Explores the fascinating social and environmental ramifications of flood control, drainage, and agriculture in Florida's swampy Everglades. The book is a welcome addition to the environmental history of the South. Swamps rival plantations and mint juleps as cultural icons for the region, yet southern historiography has been mostly silent on the subject. McCally's book is a step toward giving the South's swamps their due." -- Georgia Historical Quarterly

"McCally's informed vision of pre-drainage ecology and its transformation by agriculture makes his fine book a must read for anyone seeking to better understand the history of the Everglades." -- Environmental History

"An engaging, fascinating (and fine-grained) narrative that is good history with an activist edge. It will change the way we think about the Everglades."--Mart A. Stewart, Western Washington University, author of "What Nature Suffers to Groe": Life, Labor, and Landscape on the Georgia Coast