A People's History of Florida Cover
Adam Wasserman, a 21-year old college student from Sarasota, Florida, spent nine months endlessly sifting through primary sources to achieve what very few in his age category have done before: write a sound history book based on solid primary sources while maintaining a commercial appeal for a widespread audience. The end result was A People's History of Florida 1513-1876: How Africans, Seminoles, Women, and Lower Class Whites Shaped the Sunshine State, an exciting new addition to the People's History series, narrating the struggles of oppressed and marginalized people in the saga of Florida history.
In 1980, Howard Zinn turned history on its head by releasing A People's History of the United States, which narrates the popular struggles of Natives, African-Americans, women, and working class whites throughout U.S. history. Almost thirty years later, after six editions and 1.7 million sales, Zinn continues to touch the lives of millions by offering them an alternative to the "leadership"
Wasserman uses the most up-to-date scholarship in Florida history to paint a picture of how Florida has been experienced in the eyes of "the people." Among the best of these examples stands his narrative of the free black Angola settlement, located in Wasserman's hometown of present-day Sarasota, a historical site just recently entering the scope of Florida historians and archaeologists. Wasserman has adopted another recent belief of several Florida historians, claiming that the Second Seminole War comprised the largest slave revolt in the history of the United States and the only successful one.
The first volume in what will be a two volume edition, begins by narrating an alternate history of the European conquistadors and their arrival to the Florida shore. It continues until the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, telling the history of Florida Reconstruction in a way that very few have done before. Along the way, there are stories of natives resisting white settlers attempting to grab their lands, runaway slaves fighting white slave raiders attempting to take their freedom, and lower class whites fighting a plantation aristocracy attempting to rob them blind. "These people," Wasserman says, "defined the real character of historical Florida."
A People's History of Florida is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. The ebook can be purchased on Amazon Kindle. For more information, visit the book's webpage on http://apeopleshistoryflorida.tripod.com/
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