How the New Deal Built Florida Tourism
The Civilian Conservation Corps and State Parks
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
How the New Deal Built Florida Tourism
The Civilian Conservation Corps and State Parks
About this book
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.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1. A Tropical Depression: A Tale of Two Floridas
- 2. A New Deal for Florida
- 3. Tourism, Conservation, and State Parks
- 4. The Mother Who Birthed the Florida Park Service
- 5. State-Sponsored Tourism and the Building of Florida’s State Parks
- 6. Florida’s Welfare State Parks: The CCC at Work and at Play
- 7. Improving Paradise: Nature as Commodity
- 8. The New Deal in Old Florida: Governor Fred Cone and Florida’s Welfare System
- 9. Florida Crackers and Yankee Tourists: Class, Conflict, and Rejection in Paradise
- 10. The Sunshine State Emerges on the World Stage: Florida at the New York World’s Fair
- 11. The End of the Beginning
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author
- Michael V. Gannon Fund