Welcome to Florida, livre ebook

A much-loved Florida writer chronicles the quirky, touching, and thought-provoking stories of the Sunshine State today

In Welcome to Florida, award-winning investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author Craig Pittman introduces readers to the people, creatures, places, and issues that make up the Florida of today. Through lively stories told with cutting insight and always with a joke at the ready, Pittman captures the heart of what he calls “The Most Interesting State.”

From threats to Florida’s environment to a hippo that became an official state citizen, these tales range from the moving to the bizarre. Pittman follows the escapades of crime writers, hungry predators, politicians, and developers across the state. At the core of this collection is a deep sense of admiration for the resilience of those who live here. Again and again, this book showcases the power of “ordinary Floridians fighting to save some part of the state that they hold dear.” Often, that means folks rallying to protect the state’s unique natural landscape; sometimes it means former CIA agents incorporating their own island community.

Welcome to Florida is both a love letter to and hilarious deep dive into the nation’s fastest-growing state. Imbued with Pittman’s characteristic humor and undeniable fondness for both the weird and wonderful parts of his home, this book shows why, despite some of its reputations, Florida continues to prove irresistible.

Prologue

Part One: True Florida Stories

1. Destiny Takes a Hand

2. The Cowboy Life

3. CIA Island

4. The Buzz about Tupelo Honey

5. The Royal Story

6. Stinky Town

7. No Laughing Matter

8. When the Butt Hutt Closed

9. That Dam Reservoir

10. Orange You Sad about the Citrus Industry?

11. A No-Wake Zone in Stillwright Point

12. Plane Crazy

Part Two: Florida Men and Women, Unite!

13. A Pain in the Butt

14. The Mayor of Margaritaville

15. Lift Every Voice

16. An Un-bear-able Problem

17. For the Shell of It

18. The Parks Man

19. The Seersucker Evasion

20. Two Toms and Three Ks

Part Three: I Had the Crime of My Life

21. No. 1 in Raiford

22. The Bard of Apalachicola

23. A Paltry Penalty

24. Dirty Pictures

25. So Long, Serge

Part Four: Wild Thing, I Think I Love You

26. A Whale of a Tale

27. To Kill a Panther

28. Oh, Deer

29. Welcome to Gatorland

30. A Ghost of a Chance

31. The Mangrove Massacre

32. Adios, Oysters

33. The End of Infinity

34. Feeling Hot Hot Hot

35. Fly Like an Eagle

36. A Little Fish Story

Part Five: Looking Back, Looking Forward

37. The Unlikely Tree Hugger

38. A Burning Issue

39. 96 Hours

40. The Green Wave

41. Our State Bert

42. The Lake That Sued

43. Teach Your Children

Acknowledgments