The Florida Keys: A History & Guide [Paperback]

Joy Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 1997

The Florida Keys: A History & Guide is a smart, stylish handbook to one of the most unique locales in America. The Florida Keys--an unlikely sprinkling of coral and limestone islands that curve southwest from the tip of Florida--have always been engagingly different. Here, author Joy Williams, whose novels and short stories have won wide literary acclaim, shares with us all of the region's idiosyncrasies and delights.

From the diving and fishing meccas of Key Largo and Marathon to the funkiness and sophistication of Key West to the remote outpost of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, The Florida Keys serves the traveler as a witty and informative companion. Sensitive to and knowledgeable about the natural beauties of the Keys, Williams covers the exquisite underwater world of North America's only living reef and the eerie and delicate serenity of the "backcountry" of Florida Bay. The Florida Keys also provides fresh, up-to-date advice on the practicalities of where to stay, eat, and wander. Here is the quirkiest, most candid, and most literate guide to the Keys.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the best guidebooks ever written.”—Condé Nast Traveler

“A magnificent, tragi-comic guide.”—Condé Nast Traveler

“From Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas, novelist Joy Williams has captured the local nuances of the Keys, providing a galaxy of information, including the history of each islet. Flora and fauna, gingerbread architecture and buried treasure—every hamlet, hangout, hotel and eatery is candidly appraised. There’s plenty to see and do in the Keys, and here’s the lowdown from a native.” —The Literate Traveller

“Interwoven with the tourist details are nature lore and historical nuggets guaranteed to change the way you look at the social and ecosystems of the Keys.”—BookPage

From the Inside Flap

The Florida Keys: A History & Guide is a smart, stylish handbook to one of the most unique locales in America. The Florida Keys--an unlikely sprinkling of coral and limestone islands that curve southwest from the tip of Florida--have always been engagingly different. Here, author Joy Williams, whose novels and short stories have won wide literary acclaim, shares with us all of the region's idiosyncrasies and delights.

From the diving and fishing meccas of Key Largo and Marathon to the funkiness and sophistication of Key West to the remote outpost of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, The Florida Keys serves the traveler as a witty and informative companion. Sensitive to and knowledgeable about the natural beauties of the Keys, Williams covers the exquisite underwater world of North America's only living reef and the eerie and delicate serenity of the "backcountry" of Florida Bay. The Florida Keys also provides fresh, up-to-date advice on the practicalities of where to stay, eat, and wander. Here is the quirkiest, most candid, and most literate guide to the Keys.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 8th edition (November 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679769773
• ISBN-13: 978-0679769774
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and helpful, December 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Florida Keys: A History & Guide (Paperback)

She really gives us her unvarnished, informed opinion, and as a result my "expectations have been managed." Along with quite a bit of scathingly critical comments, some of which could be the subject of libel suits it would seem to me (did the publisher's attorneys vet this book?), she tells us about the places and activities she can honestly recommend.

I have another guide written by a local (can't remember her name, but she wrote "Postcards from Paradise"), and although not a chamber of commerce booster book, it is nevertheless more positive than this book. For example, a particular park is described as a littered hangout for druggies and anonymous homosexual trysts by Williams, but given a strong recommendation by the other writer. What is the truth?--I don't know, but I feel better having a range of opinions rather than the tourist bureau party line. And Williams's book is entertaining in itself, even if you're not going there, mixing history and the local antics of the year-round denizens in with the reviews of hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking forward to the new edition coming out in June, 2000, March 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Florida Keys: A History & Guide (Paperback)

I have found this book to be very helpful but I am l waiting on the new edition to come out in June, 2000 before purchasing. The eighth edition is great, however, many chances have occured in Key West since the hurricane in 1998. Many of the older guesthouses have been remodeled.

I travel to the Keys quite often and this is the only guide I use. The 1997 edition was the third edition that I have bought. GREAT BOOK!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A view from someone who lives there, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Florida Keys: A History & Guide (Paperback)

Joy Williams is a great fiction writer, someone who sees our culture's absurdities with heart intact. She sees the Keys the same way.

The author used to live in the Keys at least part of the year. She might still. This guide is how a very smart local would see it, and is thus invaluable. It's not a complete listing of every restaurant and every hotel. It's a select listing of just the ones you need bother with and a few references to the ones you need skip. It's a fabulously succinct history and cultural guide. Some of the sentences will make you laugh out loud.

As Joy points out, the future of the Keys is bleak. They're nothing but a bunch of nasty rocks hanging in a beautiful sea anyway. There's not long until builders have squeezed somthing onto every nothing. And as the Everglades die much of the ocean around the Keys does too. Since I've been going there much of the reef has died and remains a bunch of fossilized coral lying on the bottom like scattered bones (pollution and careless boating and scuba diving are much to blame). She's just right when she says that the opening of Cuba would make the Keys a mere depot. Might be the best thing that ever happened to Key West. There would be fewer T-shirt shops perhaps. And how in the heck do they keep building huge hotels in places that used to be water?

Nevertheless, there's no place like it. You should take this book with you when you go.