Book One: Hypocrite’s Row
Book Two: The Treasure of Indian Key
Book Three: The Wreck of the Peter Carey
Book Four: Midnight Pass
If everything was jake, you wouldn't need Nate Moran.
In the 1920s and 1930s, boomtown Florida drew not just the swells and the high-rollers, but also predatory land agents, shady gamblers, rumrunners and moonshiners, pimps, bank robbers, and, of course, murderers. When everything crashed, those people just got meaner. And World War II came right to the state’s shores, bringing with it intrigue, evil and tragedy.
For all of this, you needed an on-the-ball shamus who could use his quick thinking, his contacts, and what he knows about his home state, from one end to the other: Nate Moran.
He's the man with the fedora. And bad guys cross him at their peril.
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In Peace River, two men’s lives take different arcs. One descends from innocent immigrant to savage survivor. The other turns from spoiled worthlessness to merit. The paths eventually collide amid murder and the tragedy and carnage of the U.S. Civil War.
A stockyard owner forces an immigrant worker to take the place of his ne’er-do-well son. The immigrant, embittered by war and personal injustices, vows revenge, and the result is murder. The stockyard magnate, meanwhile, sends the son on a journey that changes him for the better, even as his immigrant counterpart has changed for the worse. Our reformed man confronts the ravaged South, finds love, fights his personal demons, and pursues the one person he wants to blame, and the one who blames him.
The deadly hurricane of 1928 claimed 2,500 lives, and the long-forgotten story of the casualties, as told in Black Cloud, continues to stir passion. Among the dead were 700 black Floridians men, women, and children who were buried in an unmarked West Palm Beach ditch during a racist recovery and rebuilding effort that conscripted the labor of blacks much like latter-day slaves. Palm Beach Post reporter Eliot Kleinberg has penned this gripping tale from dozens of interviews with survivors, diary entries, accounts from newspapers, government documents, and reports from the National Weather Service and the Red Cross. Immortalized in Zora Neale Hurston s classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, thousands of poor blacks had nowhere to run when the waters of Lake Okeechobee rose. No one spoke for them, no one stood up for them, and no one could save them. With heroic tales of survival and loss, this book finally gives the dead the dignity they deserve. The new, updated edition of this important book is published by the Florida Historical Society Press.
In 1998 -- before Florida Man, before Flori-Duh, before the Hanging Chads -- a tome first broached the subject about whether Florida was the strangest place on earth. And proudly declared that it was! It was Weird Florida. That much weirdness called for a second volume in 2006: Weird Florida II: In a State of Shock. Now, 25 years later, who can argue otherwise? This presentation includes a whirlwind tour of 500 years of Florida history, capped with a strong argument for Florida’s transplants to become Floridians.
In 1998, Weird Florida made the bold statement that Florida "is the home of more nuttiness per square mile than any place on earth-- and we dare the world to prove us wrong." A few tried - California comes to mind - but no one came close.
From Fort Pickens in the Panhandle to Fort Jefferson in the ocean 40 miles beyond Key West, historical travelers will find many adventures waiting for them in Florida. In this new updated edition the author presents 74 of his favorites—17 of them are new to this edition, and the rest have been completely updated.
Along the Gulf Coast, see Henry Plant's Moorish jewel of a hotel in Tampa; John Ringling's home and art and circus museums in Sarasota; and the humble homes of Cuban and Italian cigar workers in legendary Ybor City.
Up in north Florida, visit Civil War battlefields; stroll the University of Florida campus; and see buffalo and wild Spanish horses on Paynes Prairie.
In central Florida, explore Eatonville, home of writer Zora Neale Hurston, and listen to carillon music as you stroll the gardens around Bok Tower.
Down in the Keys find the 250-year-old wreck of the San Pedro, a "living museum in the sea" and the Key West home of famous author Ernest Hemingway.
From theme parks to ballparks, the quirky to the educational, Miami to Tallahassee — every city and county in Florida are covered in this newly expanded edition:
World War II changed Florida forever, perhaps more than any other state. Like everywhere else, it was the war that ended the Depression _ even more so in Florida. U-Boats sank ships right off shore; bodies and debris washed up on beaches. The state, a strategic asset for its geography and climate, became an armed camp. Its hotels turned into barracks. Hospitals, bases and airfields sprang up, increasing from eight in 1940 to 172 in 1943. The influx of soldiers led to the boom that changed Florida's population from about 2 million in 1940 to nearly 3 million a decade later. The sleepy southern locale, then ranked 27th among states, was on its way to becoming one of the nation's most important and fastest-growing states, ranked fourth by 1990. Florida never would be the same.
Known for its year-round warmth, beautiful beaches and famous residents, Palm Beach County is one of the most well-known areas along Florida's Atlantic coast. And although many people know the county as a winter destination for the likes of starlets and snowbirds, few know that German U-boats sank sixteen ships off the coast in 1942. Nor do they know that eleven "barefoot mailmen" originally took on the mail service between Palm Beach and Miami. In Palm Beach Past: The Best of "Post Time," author and local journalist Eliot Kleinberg has compiled a collection of historical vignettes--which originally appeared in the Palm Beach Post--about the intriguing people and events in the county's history. Kleinberg reveals little-known facts about the development of the region's prestigious neighborhoods and parks, while introducing readers to some of the most captivating and eccentric characters. For readers who want to understand the Palm Beach County of today or those who enjoy local history and just want a "good read," Palm Beach Past is a must.
During the Prohibition era, the Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach featured a secret hallway that led to a clandestine speakeasy called Hypocrite's Row." About the same time, the infamous Ashley gang, a ragtag band of violent criminals, had South Florida gripped in fear. Indeed, few eras in few places were as exciting, outrageous and tragic as the period between World War I and the hammer fall of the Great Depression, when Florida partied, passed out and woke up with one heck of a hangover. From rumrunners to pirates, mobsters to moguls, Palm Beach County has hosted its fair share of questionable characters over the decades. Meet the faces and places that have shaped Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast with renowned local author Eliot Kleinberg, who draws on his "Post Time" column in the Palm Beach Post to offer this unique glimpse into the extraordinary history of Palm Beach.
When Henry Flagler came to the Lake Worth region in 1893, he called it 'a veritable paradise.' And then he had a vision: He would turn Palm Beach into the most highfalutin resort in the world. And he would build a commercial city across the lake 'for my help.' That city was West Palm Beach. What began as Flagler's servants' quarters soon became a bustling frontier town, as wild as any in the Wild West. And it attracted people every bit as colorful as the Vanderbilts and Astors who visited Flagler's grand hotels in Palm Beach. In its 100 fascinating years, West Palm Beach has survived a boom, a bust, a hurricane that killed 2,000, a war right off its shore, another boom and a recession. Now it faces perhaps the greatest challenge of all, the revitalization of downtown. Pioneers in Paradise: West Palm Beach, The First 100 Years captures the frontier spirit of the people who turned a swamp into a city - and the natural beauty that lured them here.
