decorative pillows
land of sunshine state of dreams a social history of modern florida
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 500000 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 vernacular 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 americas southernmost state and the northernmost outpost of the caribbean . from the capital tallahassee a days walk from the georgia border to miami a city distant but tantalizingly close to cuba and haiti mormino traces the themes of floridas transformation 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 adizzying passage from new spain to old south new south to sunbelt .