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Explore Florida's Enterprising History with New Books from University Press

by Andrea Dzavik

GAINESVILLE, FL - Get ready to encounter some of the enterprising people and ideas that shaped the Florida frontier with the latest titles from University Press of Florida.

Thanks to the visions of railroad barons Henry Flagler and Henry Plant, the aspirations of the Gilded Age were sown into the Florida frontier and the seeds of Florida tourism were sprung. In The Architecture of Leisure, Susan Braden travels the state from St. Augustine to Palm Beach to Tampa Bay for a historic tour of Florida's first luxury resorts. A combination of architectural and marketing genius, these hotels not only transformed the communities in which they stood, but influenced the standard for leisure-class hotels around the globe. Vintage photographs capture the style and romance of this era while behind-the-scenes narrative relates the experience of both guests and hotel staff alike. So settle in, put your feet up and you too can be king or queen for a day or you just may be inspired to visit a few of the still-functioning hotels on your own.

(And don't forget to bring back a souvenir from your visit. Check out Florida's Golden Age of Souvenirs, 1890-1930 to see if you've got anything valuable collecting dust!)

"One result of Florida's rapid recent growth is that Floridians have little sense of their history," says Anne Hyman, author of Jacksonville Greets the Twentieth Century. Hyman, together with photo editor Ron Masucci, creates an intimate portrait of the state's premiere city in the late 1800s as captured through the lens of Leah Mary Cox. Cox, an adventurous young woman attracted to Jacksonville by the promise of an independent new life, kept a visual diary of the city as it entered the twentieth century. Selected from a collection of 4000 glass negatives, Cox's images of daily life are woven together with biographical narrative to tell the story not only of Jacksonville's transition into modern times, but of a farm girl, toughened by early years on the Nebraska Plains, and how she passionately and successfully integrated herself within the city's dynamic fabric.

Jump ahead fifty years, move down the coast, and you'll be in the center of another revolutionary change. The impact of NASA on the Sunshine State is the focus of Florida's Space Coast, a side-by-side evolutionary chronicle of America's space program and the county in which it was born. For the first time, veteran space historian William Barnaby Faherty tells the story of the entire space program in the context of Brevard's development into a metropolitan, commercial, and hi-tech power. From Mercury to the Shuttle, to communication and weather satellites, to planetary exploration and the Space Station, Cape Canaveral has continued the pioneering spirit that is synonymous with Florida's image as a place ripe with possibilities.

(For an overview of the entire state, read Florida's Megatrends. Covering politics, economics, history, sociology, and environmental issues, two of Florida's most respected historians analyze the forces that shaped Florida in the twentieth century and what trends will affect the course of its future.)

Florida's natural bounty makes it a perfect place for explorations of the mind, body, and spirit as well. Birdwatching is one of America's fastest-growing leisure activities and Guide to the Great Florida Birding Trail is an easy-to-follow guidebook for birders of all levels. It showcases 136 car-accessible birding sites in east central Florida,many within an easy drive of the Jacksonville and Orlando metropolitan areas, making relaxing field trips a snap.

Longing for an island vacation without the air travel? Kayaking the Keys is the definitive guide to the entire island chain and offers 50 great paddling excursions for all ages and abilities. Detailed maps and concise trip descriptions will have you enjoying the only tropical waters accessible by car in no time. For more great close-to-home trip ideas, check out our other outdoor guides at http://www.upf.com/flatravel.html.

University Press is recognized for excellent books in Southeastern Archaeology and this fall we're expanding our Young Readers Library. In Journeys With Florida Indians, Kelly Weitzel, author of the award-winning The Timucua Indians: A Native American Detective Story, launches elementary/middle schoolers on a new adventure into Florida's past. From the Paleoindians' arrival in the Americas to the European invasion, fiction and fact are combined to provide an engaging and up-to-date history of Florida's native peoples.

History allows us the opportunity to reflect on how far we've come, and on August 24, 2002, South Floridians may look back and remember where they were when Andrew struck on that date ten years ago. In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew is a tribute to the resilience of Miami-Dade citizens as they lived through one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern American history. As a way of coping and understanding the storm's magnitude, students at the University of Miami began the Hurricane Andrew Oral History Research Project and collected first-hand testimonies from survivors and rescuers in the days and months that followed the 1992 storm. The dramatic accounts shared in the resulting book create a real sense of how Andrew impacted each human being and what shaped the Miami community in the rebuilding process. For more info on the project and to view unique photos from the storm, visit http://digital.library.miami.edu/andrew/.

University Press of Florida books are available through booksellers or may be obtained directly by going to www.upf.com or calling 1-800-226-3822.

Books are available at full service book stores or call toll-free at 1-800-226-3822.