A Land Remembered [Hardcover]

Patrick D Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1984 | Series: A Land Remembered

In this best-selling novel, Patrick Smith tells the story of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family who battle the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias MacIvey arrives in the Florida wilderness to start a new life with his wife and infant son, and ends two generations later with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that the land has been exploited far beyond human need. The sweeping story that emerges is a rich, rugged Florida history featuring a memorable cast of crusty, indomitable Crackers battling wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of a swamp. But their most formidable adversary turns out to be greed, including finally their own. Love and tenderness are here too: the hopes and passions of each new generation, friendships with the persecuted blacks and Indians, and respect for the land and its wildlife. A Land Remembered was winner of the Florida Historical Society Tebeau Prize as the Most Outstanding Florida Historical Novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Pineapple Pr (September 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910923124
• ISBN-13: 978-0910923125
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (148 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable generational tale of settling Florida..., October 7, 2004

By 

jeanne-scott (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Land Remembered (Paperback)

A Land Remembered is an amazing book that tells the story of three generations of the MacIvey family. The novel takes place in Central Florida, starting before the Civil War. The first generation arrives in Central Florida with literally nothing but their determination, desperation and their love for each other.
Patrick Smith paints a clear and detailed picture of the endurance and sacrifice made by a young couple in order to even just barely get by. The stark reality he portray is extremely vivid.
The hardships that are experienced by the different generations range from natures fury in fires, ice storms, insect swarms covering miles and miles of the grasslands, hurricanes to the emotional hardships of sacrifice, lost love, doubt and loneliness. The MacIvey family looses their footing in several business ventures through the natural disasters and also through the greed of others. The one thing they never loose is their love and caring and determination to take care of their family and to see each other through the difficult times that they are faced with. Each generation must come to terms with what is is truely important in their lives and the simple values that the family began with always seem to come clearly into focus.
The visions of Florida as a raw, unsettled land that tolerates but never encourages those daring enough to challenge her have a unique clarity to them.
Through everything that occurs, this wonderful family pulls together, creating a history that Patrick Smith has crafted into an unforgettable novel.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "A Land Remembered", December 18, 1999

By 

John Syfrett (Lakeland, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Land Remembered (Hardcover)

Patrick Smith gives the reader an opportunity to glimpse at Florida from 1848 to 1970 through the eyes of the MacIvey family members over three generations. It is an enthralling book, if you're interested in the state of Florida from before Civil War times through present day era. I have read this book four times and am very much a fan of this author. In fact, I have met this studious writer of history, twice. Step back in time and read about Florida in its days of infancy. Enjoy reading about a family that survived in spite of rough times, the elements, outlaws, and animal predators. I have read this to my class and they beg you to keep going! They enjoyed it tremendously! If you do read it, I'm sure you will be captivated by its great story and the personnae of its characters.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Popular and accurate view of Florida history, July 15, 2005

By 

James V. Holton "The Ecclectic Professor" (Lakeland, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Land Remembered (Paperback)

As a history professor, I've found numerous people have used A Land Remembered as their introduction to Florida history. I finally gave in and read it myself and can see why this is the case.

Patrick Smith compellingly recreates an aspect of Florida history that predates Disney, NASCAR racing, tourism and "God's waiting room." He takes the reader on a three-generation journey through Florida history from the Civil War to the 1960s. Told through the experiences of the MacIvey family, it recounts the family's rise from hardscrabble poverty to wealth and influence.At the same time, we see the evolution of Florida to the state it is today, and laments over its change, a "land remembered." Along the way the reader will encounter the formative events of Florida history from the Civil War onward.

Smith's portrayal of Florida's cattle raising history should enlighten many readers of a little known and often neglected part of Florida's history.

The book may be flawed in some of its literary aspects, but for accessible history it has few peers.