Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge (Florida History and Culture) [Paperback]

HERBERT L. HILLER (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2005 | Series: Florida History and Culture

The story of Highway A1A--running north to south along 500 miles of famous Florida coastline--and its crucial role in the historic settlement and the future of a state adapting to 21st century demands.

 

Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge is more than an insightful guide to the cities and towns along Florida’s Atlantic coast. It is also the dramatic story of how tourism begat development, how development begat sprawl, and how this coastal corridor, almost out of the blue, created Florida’s original year-round residential downtowns with the power to transform how Floridians live and how the world vacations in the Sunshine State. Highway A1A is anecdotal, authoritative, humorous, and wide-ranging. Passionately Floridian travel writer and tourism analyst Herbert Hiller offers a fuller and more balanced story about Florida’s Atlantic coast than any other guidebook.

Exploring towns from Callahan to Key West, Hiller covers Florida’s 13 Atlantic counties, providing maps, historical and present-day photographs, and recommendations for places to visit, lodge, eat, and shop that are truly local in character. Whether you’re a tourist or a roving Floridian looking for some diversion not far from home, Highway A1A will put you in touch with what makes the Atlantic coast special--its dynamic sites and sights.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

The story of Highway A1A--running north to south along 500 miles of famous Florida coastline--and its crucial role in the historic settlement and the future of a state adapting to 21st century demands.

 

“Path-breaking work. . . . Herb Hiller’s knowledge of Florida is exhaustive and unique. Highway A1A is an indispensable read for anyone having a commercial, professional, or even purely curious interest in the future of this skyrocketing state.”--Arthur Frommer, founder of the Arthur Frommer travel guide series

 

“Will Floridians wake one day to find their Eden irrevocably despoiled? The drama is being played out right now, and the Day of Judgment is not far off. Herb Hiller reports with a keen eye, a sympathetic ear, encyclopedic knowledge, and obvious affection for his home state, its people, and its great but imperiled potential.”--Tom Brosnahan, author of eight Lonely Planet books and travelwebsiteplanner.com

 

Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge is more than an insightful guide to the cities and towns along Florida’s Atlantic coast. It is also the dramatic story of how tourism begat development, how development begat sprawl, and how this coastal corridor, almost out of the blue, created Florida’s original year-round residential downtowns with the power to transform how Floridians live and how the world vacations in the Sunshine State. Highway A1A is anecdotal, authoritative, humorous, and wide-ranging. Passionately Floridian travel writer and tourism analyst Herbert Hiller offers a fuller and more balanced story about Florida’s Atlantic coast than any other guidebook.

Exploring towns from Callahan to Key West, Hiller covers Florida’s 13 Atlantic counties, providing maps, historical and present-day photographs, and recommendations for places to visit, lodge, eat, and shop that are truly local in character. Whether you’re a tourist or a roving Floridian looking for some diversion not far from home, Highway A1A will put you in touch with what makes the Atlantic coast special--its dynamic sites and sights.

 

 

About the Author

Herbert Hiller has written for Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic Traveler, and Land and People. He is the author of Guide to the Small and Historic Lodgings of Florida, winner of a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award as best travel guidebook in America, and coauthor of Season of Innocence. He lives in Putnam County, Florida, and is at work on a new book about Florida downtowns, small towns, and the trails that connect them.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Florida; 1st edition (October 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813028337
• ISBN-13: 978-0813028330
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,431,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Development of Florida's east coast, for better & worse, June 1, 2006

By 

Shelby Duncan (Jericho, VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge (Florida History and Culture) (Paperback)

Hiller goes county-by-county, describing the development of Florida's east coast from the days of Henry Flagler to the present. Politicians, business people, developers, conservationists, and community activists have had varying effects on each community. Although I wouldn't call it an easy read, those with a real interest in the future of Florida would do well to read this title. I'm lopping off a star because of the addition of hotel and restaurant listings in the back of the book, which doesn't seem to really go along with the intent of the main body of text. It's as if the publisher wants tourists to think this is a tour guide and this is an attempt to make one book serve two very different purposes.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a Travel Book, December 24, 2006

By 

Billy Rhodes "Billy on the Florida Space Coast" (Florida Space Coast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge (Florida History and Culture) (Paperback)

Don't think that Highway A1A, Florida at the Edge is a travel book. It is more of a rank against the economic development of Florida. The author seems to feel that development has been badly handled in every county along the highway. I didn't much like the author's sense of direction either. He starts the book in Northeast Florida and moves South along the coast. But, when he writes about Brevard County, for example, he starts in the South and moves North. Although there is a section about each A1A county that details some of the places to visit, eat or stay, it leans heavily toward the mom and pop, bed and breakfast crowd.