Florida under Five Flags by Rembert W. PatrickCall Number: F311 .P3 2013 Florida
ISBN: 9780813044903
Publication Date: 2013-04-30
Originally published in 1945, this concise volume covering Spanish, French, British, American, and Confederate rule of Florida commemorated the state's centennial anniversary. Reissued numerous times, it is not only a seminal text but also one that has remained relevant and in demand over the years. Distilling five centures of history, Rembert Patrick chronicles Florida's changing identity from European discovery to emerging economic juggernaut. He reveals the political complexities underlying the early white settlements, as the peninsula became a pawn in the global chess game among European powers; he traces the slow growth of Florida as it evelved from frontier territory to antebellum state, then underwent the upheaval of the Civil War and Reconstruction; he shows how the steamboat and the railroad led to greater urbanization, particularly along the coast; and he pointed to the bright future in store for the state in the immediate post-WWII period, thanks to improved roads, air travel, agriculture, tourism, and the military. Patrick, the first of many giants among Florida historians, created a highly readable account of Florida's history whose appeal is as relevant today as when it was first published. This facsimile of that original edition is being released as part of the state-wide celebration of the five-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of "La Florida." --from the cover.