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Dreams in the New Century: Instant Cities, Shattered Hopes, and Florida's Turning Point

Dreams in the New Century: Instant Cities, Shattered Hopes, and Florida's Turning Point

Current price: $34.95
Publication Date: May 17th, 2022
Publisher:
University Press of Florida
ISBN:
9780813069340
Pages:
548

Description

Florida Book Awards, Gold Medal for Florida Nonfiction
Florida Historical Society Charlton Tebeau Book Award
A leading Florida historian explores one of the state's most consequential eras

It was a time of stunning episodes of boom and
bust, an era of extremes, a decade of historic changes that point to Florida's
future. In this book, eminent historian Gary Mormino illuminates early
twenty-first-century Florida and its connections to some of the most
significant events in contemporary American history.
Following Mormino's milestone work Land of
Sunshine, State of Dreams
, which details the dynamic history of
Florida from 1950 to 2000, Dreams in the New Century explores the state's tumultuous next chapter, a period that included the Bush
v. Gore election, 9/11, the housing bubble and Great Recession, and the
election of Barack Obama. During these years the Eli n Gonz lez story engrossed
the country, Tim Tebow rose to football fame, and Donald Trump became a Florida
celebrity. From hurricanes to Ponzi schemes, red tides, climate change, the "Stand-Your-Ground" gun law, demographic diversity, and more, Florida offered
nonstop news fodder that reflected its extraordinary internal trends and its
importance in the nation.
As Mormino shows, Florida is a place of
deep conflicts--North and South, liberal and conservative, newcomer and local,
growth and conservation--with histories that can be traced back centuries. In
2000‒2010, Mormino argues, these tensions collided to produce a "Big Bang" that
will continue to resonate in years to come. Mormino takes stock of this
crucible of change and explains the social, cultural, and political intricacies
of a state the world struggles to understand. Dreams in the New
Century
unravels Florida's complicated recent history in a gripping,
informative, and fascinating narrative.