Al Burt's Florida

Florida Trust for Historic Preservation Award Florida Historical Society Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Book Award A tour of twentieth-century Florida through the writing of a roving reporterSome say that Floridians lack a sense of placethey wont after reading Al Burt.Ann Henderson, Former executive director, Florida Humanities CouncilAs a roving reporter for theMiami Heraldfrom 1973 to 1995, Al Burt traveled all of Florida, studying it with the insight of a native and the detached eye of the foreign correspondent he had been. During those years, he observed connections with the states past and speculated about its future, and, while he was at it, took note of the human frailties and heroisms he witnessed every day.Al Burt's Floridais like a family portrait, a loving but not uncritical view of a complex and fascinating state.Burt's portrait combines vignettes of notable Floridianssome famous at the time, like Ed Ball, but most better known locallywith those of the states many special places: Okeechobee in the teens and twenties, Miami Beach in the fifties (when dinner in Havana was only a $26 plane ride away), Wakulla Springs when it served as Johnny WeismullersTarzanmovie set, modern-day Tallahassee with its formality and grace.Al Burt himself emerges from this landscape as the remarkable, engaging, and passionate Floridian he is. He takes us in hand, starting from his headquarters in the north Florida scrub, on a tour of the charm, substance, and fantasy of Florida, yesterday and today. And always, he dwells with greatest affection on the smaller places, therealplaces, the anchors of old Floridaand on those folks who do their best to preserve them. In the process he captures a sense of Florida as home.A volume in the Florida History and Culture series, edited by Raymond Arsenault and Gary R. Mormino