Florida Histories

Amanda Harris is a former editor and reporter for Newsday, the daily newspaper of Long Island. She has written for the Boston Record-American/Herald Traveler and [MORE], the journalism review. In Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild and America's Plant Hunters (University Press of Florida) Harris depicts how, at a time when much American fare tended to be bland, Fairchild believed in the free exchange of food plants—preferably colorful, tasty ones—among people around the world. He convinced the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sponsor daring overseas explorations to track down and bring back foreign cultivars. Fairchild traveled to remote corners of the globe, searching for fruits, vegetables, and grains that would transform the American diet.

Arva Moore Parks is the former chief curator, interim director, and chair of the Coral Gables Museum. She is the author of numerous books on Florida history, including The Forgotten Frontier: Florida through the Lens of Ralph Middleton Munroe and Miami, the Magic City. The story of developers selling off the Sunshine State is as old as the first railroad tracks laid across the peninsula. But seldom do we hear about the men who actually built a better Florida. In George Merrick, Son of the South Wind: Visionary Creator of Coral Gables (University Press of Florida), Parks recounts George Merrick's quest to distinguish himself from the legions who sought only profit. Merrick was green before green, a New Urbanist before the movement had a name. He reinvested in education, affordable housing, and other progressive causes. But the Great Depression ravaged Miami, and Merrick's idealism cost him his fortune. He died with an estate worth less than $400. With unprecedented access to the Merrick family and a treasure trove of Merrick’s personal letters, documents, speeches, and manuscripts, Parks presents the remarkable story of George Merrick and of one of the nation’s most iconic planned cities.

Elsbeth “Buff” Gordon is an architectural historian living in St. Augustine. She is the author of Florida’s Colonial Architectural Heritage and Heart and Soul of Florida: Sacred Sites and Historic Architecture. Walking St. Augustine: An Illustrated Guide and Pocket History to America's Oldest City (A Florida Quincentennial Book) (University Press of Florida) is her vibrantly rendered, easy-to-use, and color-coded guide, which vividly retells landmark events, highlights areas of architectural or historic interest, delves into the genealogy of the multicultural families that have made St. Augustine home, and offers human stories and heritage recipes passed down through the centuries.