Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida

The Florida History and Culture Series

by Gary R. Mormino

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 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 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 a complex and complicated social framework that reflects a dizzying passage from New Spain to Old South, New South to Sunbelt. 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

484 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2005

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really looked forward to reading this book. I was very disappointed in it. I don't know what I expected but this wasn't it. I suppose I should have been forewarned with a subtitle of "A Social History..." but I thought a factual account could still be interesting reading. Instead this was like reading a textbook. Several times I asked myself if I really wanted to finish reading this, but I continued to plod through it....and a plogging read it was!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I will disclosed that I know and like Gary Mormino, having gotten acquainted with him while I attended the University of South Florida (though sadly never had a class with him), and also that my academic training was in social history under his friend and colleague, Ray Arsenault.

That being said, I think this is a wonderful, hefty, and valuable addition to Florida history and is likely to be a go-to book for a generation of scholars delving into the modern development of the state. It represents a massive, exhaustive, wide-ranging amount of research. Although I love them, I'm glad he limited the number of charts; also, that he included a pretty good selection of illustrations. As is common with social history it is jam-packed with information, so much so that the general reader might be overwhelmed, but there is so much worthwhile history here that I hope it doesn't discourage too many readers (even those who may feel it too textbookish). I wouldn't be surprised if readers and researchers choose to cherry pick in areas they are most interested in (and that's not a bad thing), from civil rights to land development, tourism to post-war readjustment, agricultural endeavors to diversification of the ever-growing population. There will be some who find fault with missing mentions here and there (even I thought a few times, "but what about?") , however a history of this wide breadth could easily have been more than double the size. No doubt he had to leave out material he would have loved to include. I really enjoyed the history of tourist attractions, for instance, many of which I visited during my time there in late 60's onward. Maybe I missed their mentions, but I didn't see attractions such as Stephen Foster Folk Center and Cedar Key, nor did he give a shout out to USF being built on the old Hillsborough Army Airfield, things like that. Nevertheless, Tim Dorsey has probably already ordered his copy for Serge Storms. I congratulate Mormino on this achievement and expect a few awards will be coming his way.

[Mike Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have not lived in Florida for almost thirty-five years - half my life- I still self-identify as a Floridian. Perhaps its due to the fact that both sides of my family have been in Florida since the mid-1800's. At any rate I find reading about my home state a highly evocative experience and this is especially true of Mormino's book which largely focuses on postwar Florida and the enormous changes - demographic, social, cultural, economic and environmental - that have reshaped much of the state. Although packed with statistics, the text is lively and (at least to me) absorbing due in part to my Florida roots and in part to my having lived through and observed much of what Mormino writes about.

[Cameron King · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating book - no doubt - and a love letter to Florida. The author alternated between laying true the joys and passions of Florida with a crusade for economic, racial, and environmental justice. All of that said, the writing was often quite cumbersome and as the chapters wore on, it became more difficult to read. I suspect that had I not been a professional historian myself, I would not have been able to get through much of the book at all.

[Mark Mathes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary Mormino is one of the best historians and social scientists in Florida. This evergreen book is an engaging look at how Florida has transformed from one of the smallest states in the Deep South to the 4th largest in the US. A perfect reference, yet you can pick a chapter or era where you live to learn more. Of 22 million residents, only 4 million were born here. So books like this are must reading for all. Checkout his other books.

[Christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent reference source of how Florida suffered from the impact of sprawl. The impact on Florida from the Sunbelt phenomenon left the state in disarray from extreme and immediate population growth to political, environmental, economic and social ramifications present in the twentieth first century. However, not all of the impact resulted in negative terms, for the Sunbelt phenomenon not only transformed the state, but the state transformed the South and enlightened the nation as well.

How economic, political, and population growth impacted Florida is evident through the statistical study of a state by state analysis of income trends showing Florida the seventh largest in the nation with the largest gap between its middle and upper class citizens. This is a result of Florida’s dependence to tourism and a state transformed with pro business interests over environmental welfare and an ever-increasing population working for a state that only has a low wage service industry for employment. Mormino states, “to be a Floridian is to be optimistic”. The impression left from the Sunbelt surge of the twentieth century continues to mutate continuously making the impact on Florida tremendous economically, environmentally, and politically.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this account of the history of modern Florida, which takes readers from the mosquito-infested fringe of the Spanish empire, to the sleepy back-water of the Deep South, to the over-developed tourism capital of today.

[Carolyn Leshyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mormino has written a detail history of Florida, particularily after WWII. He presents a lot of statistics and seemingly has done his homework. Very interesting.

I was a bit disappointed that he mainly discussed the east coast and incorpoated very little information concerning the west coast.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

favorite line so far- page 204:
"Urban growth has denuded the pine forest from Pinellas County, drained the lake out of Lake Apopka, and even squeezed the orange out of Orange County."

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating social, cultural and economic history of Florida!