Florida’s Dark Chapters

Anyone who has ever traveled to Florida immediately assumes they’ve got the state figured out. It usually involves the common tropes we see splashed across news and social media: Disney, Miami, alligators, heat, retirees and weird people. As a result, very few people try to dig any deeper.
This book explores the darkest parts of Florida’s past. These stories, told out in sequential order and broken down by theme, contain everything that has come to make up the Sunshine State: from the surprising, to the weird, to the horrifying, and, in some cases, inspiring. Topics covered include Florida in the Age of Exploration, pirates, Spanish colonialism, the Seminole Wars, slavery and race relations during the Civil War, Prohibition, segregation, disco and drugs, serial killers, economic ruin, urbanism, and Florida in the age of DeSantis.

Michael G. Hall is the executive director for the Augusta Downtown Alliance, a nonprofit affiliated with the Main Street America program. His experience includes his on-site work with Historic Scotland, English Heritage, Sons of the American Revolution, and UNESCO World Heritage.

Michael G. Hall
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 283
Bibliographic Info: 40 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9121-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5178-1
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction: Embracing the Darkness 3
1. Bounty, Belligerency and Bloodlust: Florida in the Age of Exploration 5
2. Dead Man’s Chest: Florida’s Flirtation with Pirates, Privateers and Pillagers 24
3. A Tale of Two Floridas: Spanish Twilight in the Era of American Expansion 37
4. Guerrillas in the Mist: Florida’s Seminole Wars 53
5. In the Shadow of the Big House: Florida, Slavery and Race Relations During the Civil War 68
6. Florida Brews a Revolution 89
7. Boom! Goes the Landscape: Florida on the Brink 103
8. The Era of Blood and Retribution: Florida in the Days of Prohibition and Wise Guys 123
9. We Shall Overcome: Florida in the Dark Days of Xenophobia, Segregation and Purple Panic 139
10. Drugs, Disco and Decadence: Florida in the ’70s and ’80s 159
11. Blood and Riots: Serial Killers and Destruction in the Twilight of the Twentieth Century 172
12. Politics, Terror and Economic Ruin: Florida Leaves Its Mark on the World 186
13. Retirees of a Different Kind: Dictators and Death Leaders 198
14. Towns Like No Other: Florida’s “New” Urbanism 212
15. Demagoguery, Disease and Division: Florida in the Age of DeSantis 225
Conclusion: A Trip Through the Darkness and Back 240
Chapter Notes 241
Bibliography 257
Index 273