FLORIDA: POLLUTED PARADISE

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 16, 1964

It is no doubt high time for some sharp reactions to the ""awesome"" effectiveness of the Sunshine State's publicity machine. This book is unabashedly as one-sided as the chamber of commerce brochures are, and it assaults the blatant myths enshrined in those brochures with venomous gusto which will surely be returned with interest by all those under attack here. Would-be tourists and settlers will be interested to learn the frightening statistics on tetanus, sleeping sickness, water pollution, and crime. Separate chapters investigate the incidence of hurricanes and cold waves, administrative corruption, the numbers racket, the ""employment nightmare,"" racial discrimination, housing conditions, public and private levels of morality, the ""shocking"" school system, and the war jitters caused by proximity to Castro's Cuba. The picture which emerges is far from appealing, and there will be those who will wonder if the volume wasn't secretly sponsored by agents of the California legislature. Yet the authors do love their subject, or at least that part of it which they call ""the real Florida""---scattered patches in the hinterlands where the ""quiet-mannered natives"" still live untarnished by the otherwise ubiquitously crass commercialism. Not a careful book or a really serious one, this is nevertheless very readable journalism.

Pub Date: Oct. 16, 1964

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: hilton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION