Miami Beach: Blueprint of an Eden [Hardcover]

Michele Oka Doner (Author), Mitchell Wolfson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2007

Miami Beach is the story of an extraordinary time and place, told through the prism of two founding families, the Wolfsons and the Okas. The authors' fathers were each mayors of Miami Beach, one in the 1940s and the other in the '50s and early '60s, and their mothers were prominent first ladies, who regularly welcomed the crème de la crème of society to their enchanting city. The Wolfsons' and Okas' exhaustive family archives provide a rich cultural, architectural, political, social, botanical, stylistic, gastronomic, geological, and poetic history of the contemporary phenomenon that is Miami Beach. At once an intimate memoir, a sprawling history, and a work of great artistic integrity, Miami Beach invites you to step back into a world so visual, mythical, and filled with family lore that its local intensity illuminates a national character.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Leafing through the book...is like sifting through the results of an archaeological dig of contemporary imagination." -- New York Times Sunday Magazine, Herbert Muschamp Oct. 9, 2005

"Two of these charmed Miami mutants, native son and daughter, have spliced their genes together (in this) book." -- Herbert Muschamp, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Oct. 9, 2005 --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

No other book on Miami Beach brings together Mickey Mouse, Eleanor Roosevelt, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the composer Manna Zucca, the horticulturalist Tashiro family, opera singer Renata Tebaldi; the singing cowboy Gene Autry, master photographer Arnold Newman, Joan Fields and her Stradivarius, Oscar winner Geraldine Page, producer Robert Evans, architect Morris Lapidus, Jacqueline Kennedy, Anita Eckberg, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, concert pianist Gina Bachauer, Maestro Leonard Bernstein, Joan Crawford, Bob Hope, Ed Sullivan, Zorita the snake charmer, John Wayne, Washington politicos, haute couture fashion runways, and pre-Vegas nightlife...in a memoir that is so visual, conversational, poetic and filled with family history, that its local intensity illuminates a national character. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Harper Design; 1 edition (October 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061346160
• ISBN-13: 978-0061346163
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Memories, beautiful book, November 30, 2006

By 

Marsha Collier "dealingdiva" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miami Beach: Blueprint of an Eden: Lives Seen Through the Prism of Family and Place (Hardcover)

I grew up in Miami Beach a bit later than the authors. When the book arrived I couldn't put it down. I loved the photos and historic reference; they showed just how special Miami Beach was. My only wish is that the authors would have expanded their history a bit.

Perhaps add info on Central Beach Elementary, Ida M Fisher Junior and Miami Beach High as well as some of the other early landmarks (the Post Office on Washington Avenue). I realize the authors wrote through their own families' experience, but there is so much more... and so many others who contributed so much to the city.

Hopefully one day they'll do another book to immortalize a truly "Magic City."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Miami Beach:Blueprint of an Eden., July 16, 2010

By 

Jose Lopez "Jose Lopez" (Miami,Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miami Beach: Blueprint of an Eden (Hardcover)

The book is a quick read and majority of it black and white,there are blueprints and some very good rare photos,there is a caption referring to the times as the cold war etc. didn't impress me. the book nonetheless is very interesting although very heavy on the botanical side,artsy elitist types, and on fashion,galas,what she is wearing etc.,my favorite is the WTVJ CHANNEL 4(then ch.4/Wometco,etc) photos and the fountainbleu spread.Nice big hardcover minus the dustjacket. Can't complain I got a new copy for $3 from the store.I recommend reading Miami Beach Memories.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Glamour and nostalgia, February 18, 2010

By 

Barbara S. Brookes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miami Beach: Blueprint of an Eden (Hardcover)

So many personal memories came to life because of this lovely book. There are many other readers like me who grew up in Miami Beach and perhaps also danced around the Maypole in North Beach Elementary. I especially liked the glamorous photos - the movie star quality of Gertrude Oka - and the dressed-up glitz of Miami Beach's image, where fur stoles were a must. There were pictures of many wonderful buildings, and many of these were given depth by architectural drawings and historical comments.