Florida's Past, Vol 3

by Gene M. Burnett

Virtually every month for fourteen years, Gene Burnett wrote a history piece under the title "Florida's Past" for Florida Trend, Florida's respected magazine of business and finance. The first volume of collected essays from that series proved so popular among book readers that two more volumes have been published. Pineapple Press is now proud to make them available in paperback. Burnett's easygoing style and his sometimes surprising choice of topics make history good reading. Each volume divides Florida's people and events into Achievers and Pioneers, Villains and Characters, Heroes and Heroines, War and Peace, and Calamities and Social Turbulence. Read a chapter and you'll find you've gone on to read more. Read this volume and you'll find yourself looking for the next two.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Southern, Local History

280 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1986

Reviews

[Margaret Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a collection of sixty-seven essays about individuals and historical events, all previously published in Florida magazines between the 1970s and 1991. They are all interesting, but a shortcoming by the publisher is that the specific date of publication for each article is not given, which sometimes makes it slightly disorienting to a reader in 2025 when the author repeatedly writes of “now” time.

It is certainly historically enlightening, if a bit disconcerting that there seem to be more rogues than heroes and more catastrophes than inspirational happenings. I hope that the Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901 and the 1930s writings by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings are covered in the previous two volumes, for I missed them here.

The collection is nostalgic for a native Floridian, and perhaps so as well for Florida tourists. The settings range from Pensacola and eastward around the curve to follow the St. Johns River south to mid-peninsula and then all the way down to the Everglades and the islands of the Keys. The history extends from the the days of Seminole tribes and their encounters with first the Spanish and later the English and “new” Americans to the ongoing push of settlement of others—and establishment of towns and legislatures—drawn to the warmth and beauty of the land, its ocean and gulf shorelines, and even its swamps and lakes, despite the mosquitoes.

The writing is lively. I plan to look for the first two volumes.

[Christine Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just what it says it is: a collection of articles about Florida and its people and places. Most of the bios are on very obscure people that had some impact either financially, politically, socially, on Florida's history. Being from Florida, I recognized some of the names and thought the short stories were interesting. However, I think this book would appeal to only a very select few - older, native Floridians who like a very light recounting of mostly unknown citizens and events.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like stories about the pioneering spirit, this is a terrific read. These short stories were published in the newspaper that my grandparents read in Florida. I bought it because my second great-grandfather, Odette Phillippe is featured in this volume.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great primer on important events in Florida history. I'm looking forward to book 2