How the New Deal Built Florida Tourism - by David J Nelson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A detailed look at how programs started during the Great Depression laid the foundation for modern Florida tourism



Florida Historical Society Rembert Patrick Award

Florida Book Awards, Silver Medal for Florida Nonfiction



Countering the conventional narrative that Florida's tourism industry suffered during the Great Depression, this book shows that the 1930s were, in reality, the starting point for much that characterizes modern Florida's tourism. David Nelson argues that state and federal government programs designed to reboot the economy during this decade are crucial to understanding the state today.



Nelson examines the impact of three connected initiatives--the federal New Deal, its Civilian Conservation Corps program (CCC), and the CCC's creation of the Florida Park Service. He reveals that the CCC designed state parks to reinforce the popular image of Florida as a tropical, exotic, and safe paradise. The CCC often removed native flora and fauna, introduced exotic species, and created artificial landscapes that were then presented as natural. Nelson discusses how Florida business leaders benefitted from federally funded development and the ways residents and business owners rejected or supported the commercialization and shifting cultural identity of their state.



A detailed look at a unique era in which the state government sponsored the tourism industry, helped commodify natural resources, and boosted mythical ideas of the "Real Florida" that endure today, this book makes the case that the creation of the Florida Park Service is the story of modern Florida.



Review Quotes

"Sheds
new light on the development of Florida tourism."--Choice

"Nelson
expertly examines how debates about Florida's identity during the New Deal era
paved the way for the creation of Florida's modern tourist industry."--Journal
of Southern History

"Nelson
makes a convincing argument that this time period was the foundation for
establishing Florida as a tourist destination."--H-Net

"Blending
rich archival bureaucratic reports with personal stories and connections to the
land and work of building the parks, Nelson intimately connects the personal
and the political between state park work, tourism, and survival during the
Great Depression."--Environmental History