Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida (Florida Sand Dollar Books) - Softcover

"The history of Florida is the story of North America in miniature. By telling it with such eloquence and learning in 'Some Kind of Paradise, ' Mr. Derr has revealed the dark side of the historian Frederick Jackson Turner's famous hypothesis: our national character was indeed shaped by the frontier.... (Derr) writes with a journalist's eye for telling details and an antiquarian's fondness for digression and quirky facts.... The state's torturous journey from one extreme to the other is (his) subject, and he tackles it with brilliance and bravado."-- New York Times Book Review

For 500 years, visitors to Florida have discovered magic. In Some Kind of Paradise, an eloquent social and environmental history of the state, Mark Derr describes how this exotic land is fast becoming a victim of its own allure. Written with both tenderness and alarm, Derr's book presents competing views of Florida: a paradise to be protected and nurtured or a frontier to be exploited and conquered.