This substantially revised new edition depicts the transformation of Florida, beginning with World War II and spanning Republican Rick Scott's first term as Governor of the state in 2012. Following a tortuous path that saw natives struggling with newcomers for political control of the state, whites and blacks doing battle over the future of segregation, Hispanic immigrants trying to adapt to a new culture that bore no resemblance to their own, retirees searching for paradise and the Fountain of Youth, and middle and lower-class families seeking new opportunities and with it the American Dream, ... More

This substantially revised new edition depicts the transformation of Florida, beginning with World War II and spanning Republican Rick Scott's first term as Governor of the state in 2012. Following a tortuous path that saw natives struggling with newcomers for political control of the state, whites and blacks doing battle over the future of segregation, Hispanic immigrants trying to adapt to a new culture that bore no resemblance to their own, retirees searching for paradise and the Fountain of Youth, and middle and lower-class families seeking new opportunities and with it the American Dream, Florida emerged dramatically onto the national political stage with a people and a culture that foretold the future of America. The story of Florida is the story of the nation with all its complexities in the period from World War II to 2012. During those seventy years, Florida was transformed from a biracial, rigidly segregated, illiberal, and rural society into a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, liberal, and urban state. Florida had become part of the nation and, in the process, helped transform it.