Customer Reviews

The Florida Keys: A History & Guide Tenth Edition

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This 10th edition is Joy's last. In an Afterword written in 2003 and laden with sadness and disappointment, she says, that the commodification of Key West and the total takeover of the Keys by the tourist mongers, have killed it for her. The book, however, remains as good a guidebook as they get. It's ironic that its demise is an unfortunate consequence of the success it helped promote.

Joy Williams' tenth, and apparently last, edition of "The Florida Keys - a History and Guide" maintains its Gold Standard status as the best Florida Keys and Key West guide ever written, and one of the best guide books ever, period.

Why? Joy discusses the Keys, and Key West in particular, as one would recount one's long affair with a lover -- the initial attaction and beauty, the magnetic strangeness and appeal, some history and anecdote, fascinating facts and details, humor and sadness. Yes, the Everglades, the Keys, and Key West have become polluted, commercialized, and Key West something of a parody of itself. But this is also true of the mountain west and all our other favorite places--but not a reason to quit going there. It is still wondrous and strange, beautiful and fascinating.

Visitors who discover Key West now will love the place, but will come to dislike it as time and tides morph and erode both it and themselves. And Joy's book should be required reading before they go.

Marsh Muirhead -- author of "Key West Explained -- a guide for the traveler."

an excellant compendium of information; easy to use and well researched; enjoyable reading; loved the added value of flora and fauna information (did not find in other books)

I have a trip scheduled for the Florida Keys this month. I finished reading this book last night and now I have the distinct feeling that for the good of the Florida Keys I should stay away from them. I can't believe all the hype and positive reviews, all the "best guidebook ever" stuff. As far as the comments about how well written the book is, I won't argue with that. It is a well written book. But it's also cynical, negative, and disdainful of the tourists and visitors who vacation in the Keys. If you are planning a trip to the Keys and have already purchased this book, I'd recommend that you wait and read it after your trip. Otherwise, you're going to be in the same situation as I am - still looking forward to my vacation but not sure if I can get over the guilty feeling that I'm yet another horrible tourist contributing to the ruin of paradise.

We spend our Christmas at a place we have in one of the lower Keys,love the place and the history, this book covers very well the storys and "how come" of the keys, a must have if you have a interest in the way of life down here and why people love to come to this place.
DWS

During a recent vacation in the Florida Keys we found this guide at our rental home. It provided great inside information about well-known and some not so well-known places to visit. It was so helpful that we decided to purchase a copy of our own. We hope the author continues to update the info!

This is the best guidebook to the Florida Keys I have read. This book features lively writing, and the author's love for the region comes through in each chapter. Recommended!

I drove from Miami to Key West twice in the late 80's using Joy Williams' book "The Florida Keys" in its first 1987 edition as my guide. It pointed me to so many side trips and told me so much history that I turned the three hour drive into six, and enjoyed every minute. Today I read a review by Ms. Williams of "Flannery: a Biography of Flannery O'Connor" in the New York TImes and was prompted to look her up on Amazon. What a pleasure to see that there are new editions of "The Florida Keys". Sorry to see that she won't be writing any more, but I will order the 10th edition today.

This book was a great information source. It is a must read for anyone planning on vacationing in the keys. It has things you need to know about every spot in the keys. It doesn't just mention the good things. The book will tell the good and bad spots of the keys. After reading this book, you would have thaught that you had been to the keys yourself. The author has clearly spent alot of time in the keys. She must have done alot of research for the information in this book. The author must love the keys alot to spend this much time in writing and reading this book. This book is a very easy to read tour guide. It is fun to read and teaches you all of the history of the keys. This book has detailed descriptions of places to stay and places to eat. It will tell you fun things to do and has interesting facts about each place. It also has all of the history you need to know about all of the keys.

I read about 10 pages of this book before I realized the author's real motive: to discourage people from visiting the Keys. Unfortunately, I've already booked my trip; if I had read this before hand we would have picked a different spot. As it is, we're fast losing our enthusiasm for seeing a part of the country we've never visited before.

My family tries to avoid crowded, touristy places so I did appreciate Williams' insights into some of the quieter, off-the-beaten-path sites; and the environmental history she provides is very interesting and eye-opening. But her overall tone and approach is so negative and nasty that the book is making me regret our choice. At some points the tone is warranted, as when she describes development projects and the environmental damage these have caused. At other times, though, she seems to go out of her way to tell gratuitously grim stories that don't really seem particular to Keys life (or at least I hope they don't, such as the story about a man beating a puppy to death in a bar). Williams seems to equate cynical pronouncements and gruesome stories with "insightful" and "candid" assessments, but all her book has accomplished for my family is to ensure that we'll probably view the Keys through the same dour lens that she does -- and probably never return. Which, again, I think was her intention -- mission accomplished!