2/5

This book was alright, but I think a little lacking in substance. While it is a decent chronicle of the history of Florida from the late 19th century until 1929 I’m not so sure it sets out to accomplish its stated goals. I think it does capture the wild modernity of the 1920s and does a good job as a small Margery Stoneman Douglas biography I don’t think this is doing a very good job arguing much else. The real-estate bubble emphasis as a leading cause of the great depression is kind of tacked on to the conclusion and while not without merit it isn’t totally convincing. I recognize there is a lack of consensus for the origins of the Great Depression in the scholarship but I don’t think this is moving the needle there, and mostly just lays out the real-estate bubble as another possible angle. I also don’t feel that there were very good arguments about the global significance of the land boom or the social transformation taking place in the 1920s despite some discussion of norms for women.