A New York Times Bestseller"Painstakingly reported and researched...compulsively readable."―The New York Times "An extraordinary catalog of 'weird Florida'...the definitive guide."―The Los Angeles TimesFlorida. That name. That combination of sounds. Three simple syllables packing mixed messages. To some people; it’s a paradise. To others; it’s a punch line. As award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Craig Pittman shows; it's both of these and; more important; it’s a Petri dish; producing trends that end up influencing the rest of the country. Oh; Florida!: How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country embraces those contradictions and shows how they fit together to make this the most interesting state. Without Florida there would be no NASCAR; no Bettie Page pinups; no Glenn Beck radio rants; no USA Today; no “Stand Your Ground;†. . . you get the idea. To outsiders; Florida seems baffling. It’s a state where the voters went for Barack Obama twice; yet elected a Tea Party candidate as governor. Florida is touted as a carefree paradise; yet it’s also known for its perils-alligators; sinkholes; pythons; hurricanes; and sharks; to name a few. It attracts 90 million visitors a year; some drawn by its impressive natural beauty; others bewitched by its manmade fantasies. Florida couldn’t be Florida without that sense of the unpredictable; unexpected; and unusual lurking behind every palm tree. But there is far more to Florida than its sideshow freakiness. Oh; Florida! explains how Florida secretly; subtly influences all the other states in the Union; both for good and for ill. Florida is wild and weird―and that’s okay!
#1901472 in Books Ingramcontent 2013-09-12Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.69 x .16 x 7.44l; .34 #File Name: 123044679676 pagesThe Story of Utopias
Review
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Unreadable and therefore worthlessBy CustomerThis is a review from the Kindle edition of the text. The text must have been ripped from a Google scan since every page break is heralded by a ";; Google". This Kindle edition is laughably bad scan. Wacky-parsed letters occur practically every other sentence (i.e. "wliich" instead of "which") clearly indicating that there was no editor overseeing the quality of this scan. I don't understand how gets away with charging for something they obviously put no effort at all into producing.7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Lousy OCRBy Doc NiemanDon't waste your money for the Kindle edition (as I did). The editors either were absent or lousy at cleaning up the text after the OCR.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. An extremely poor copy of a master workBy Jacques LacroixAn extremely poor copy of a master work. The pages overflow with mistakes and it is not up to expectations! Printed on flimsy paper; the size is awkward and does not give one the desire to read it. This printing doesn't even show a date of publication or anything....quite sad for the printing industry. Absolutely do not recommend this version....as for the text; well worth a read; but in a readable format!
