The Everglades: An Environmental History
by David McCally

Winner of the Rembert Patrick Annual Book Award
Now in paperback!

This important work for general readers and environmentalists alike offers the first major discussion of the formation, development, and history of the Everglades, considered by many to be the most endangered ecosystem in North America. Comprehensive in scope, it begins with south Florida's geologic origins--before the Everglades became wetlands--and continues through the 20th century, when sugar reigns as king of the Everglades Agricultural Area.

Charting the effects of human intervention upon the region, David McCally traces its habitation from the Calusas and other native groups to the modern period dominated by agribusiness. In between, he discusses the Spanish contact period, the first efforts to farm the region, the first attempts in the 1880s to drain it, and the era of the "engineered" Everglades that was largely created by the state of Florida and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Today, he declares, the desire to convert the ecosystem to farm use continues to guide American thinking about the region at a tremendous environmental cost.

Urging restoration of the Everglades, McCally argues that agriculture, especially sugar growing, must be abandoned or altered. To buy time for public debate over the final form of a sustainable Everglades, he suggests the creation of a park modeled on New York's Adirondack State Park. Sure to be influential in all discussions of Florida's future, The Everglades also will be significant for environmentalists focused on any area of North America.

David McCally teaches U.S. history at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus, and environmental history at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg.

1999. 240pp. 6 X 9.
15 b&w photos, 23 figures, 2 tables, notes, bibliography, index

ISBN 0-8130-1827-7 Paper, $19.95