Book cover of The Everglades: River of Grass

Book description

Before 1947, when Marjory Stoneman Douglas named The Everglades a "river of grass," most people considered the area worthless. She brought the world's attention to the need to preserve The Everglades. In the Afterword, Michael Grunwald tells us what has happened to them since then. Grunwald points out that in…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Everglades as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

What makes Miami the Magic City isn’t in Miami. It starts about 40 miles south. It’s the Florida Everglades, 1.5 million acres of wilderness spread across three counties.

It’s much more than its storied swamp and alligators. The Everglades is also tangled hardwood hammock, pine rockland, sawgrass prairie, cypress stand, and Florida Bay.

I kinda grew up in the Everglades and feel a kinship with Douglas, who understood, loved, and articulated the Everglades to the world. I wish I could write about it with half her poetic language and passion. Because as urban sprawl eats away at the Everglades, we’re…

Miami Herald columnist and author Marjory Stoneman Douglas can rightfully be described as the woman who saved the Everglades. The Everglades: River of Grass was published in 1947, the same year Everglades National Park opened. For over fifty years Douglas fought tirelessly against human encroachment on the Everglades and devoted nearly all her time to explain how vital it was to the entire state of Florida. In the 1960s (while in her late seventies) she became involved with the Audubon Society of Miami’s efforts to halt the building of an international airport in the Everglades. She also formed the…

From Bruce's list on for Florida-philes.

If you love The Everglades...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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