Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida by Gary R. Mormino, Raymond Arsenault (Foreword by)

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On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Florida was the smallest state in the South. Today, it is the fourth-largest state in the entire country. Its explosive growth (from 2.7 million inhabitants in 1950 to 15.9 million in 2000) has transformed every aspect of life in the Sunshine State. Gary Mormino's Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams is the most comprehensive social history of Florida ever published.

From the Publisher

From New Spain, to Old South, to New South, to Sunbelt, the story of how and why millions have come to Florida and created a megastate of constant social, cultural, and economic change.

Florida is a story of astonishing growth, a state swelling from 500,000 residents at the outset of the 20th century to some 16 million at the end. As recently as mid-century, on the eve of Pearl Harbor, Florida was the smallest state in the South. At the dawn of the millennium, it is the fourth largest in the country, a megastate that was among those introducing new words into the American vernacular: space coast, climate control, growth management, retirement community, theme park, edge cities, shopping mall, boomburbs, beach renourishment, Interstate, and Internet. Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams attempts to understand the firestorm of change that erupted into modern Florida by examining the great social, cultural, and economic forces driving its transformation.
Gary Mormino ranges far and wide across the landscape and boundaries of a place that is at once America’s southernmost state and the northernmost outpost of the Caribbean. From the capital, Tallahassee--a day's walk from the Georgia border--to Miami--a city distant but tantalizingly close to Cuba and Haiti--Mormino traces the themes of Florida’s transformation: the echoes of old Dixie and a vanishing Florida; land booms and tourist empires; revolutions in agriculture, technology, and demographics; the seductions of the beach and the dynamics of a graying population; and the enduring but changing meanings of a dreamstate. Beneath the iconography of popular culture is revealed acomplex and complicated social framework that reflects a dizzying passage from New Spain to Old South, New South to Sunbelt.
 

Lakeland Ledger

"If you want an entertaining, fact-filled account of how life has changed in the Sunshine State over the past half century or so. Mormino’s account is a must-have. "

Southern Historian

"Anyone teaching modern, southern, or Florida history will want to dip into this book for anecdotes and amusing stories with which to pepper their lectures. The book is conveniently divided into topical subsections to ease such pedagogical mining.. Mormino has a firm grasp on modern Florida and is an effective and enjoyable storyteller."

Orlando Magazine

"[A] compelling story. "

Forum: Magazine of the Florida Humanities Council

"Rich and vivid detail. "

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents