Florida in the Popular Imagination: Essays on the Cultural Landscape of the Sunshine State

This book provides the first critical discussion of popular culture in one of the United States most distinctive states, Florida, which began drawing winter visitors before the Civil War and now boasts more than a hundred million visitors annually. Floridas subculture is colorful, tropical, and wickedly interesting, providing something for everyone, from saccharine commercial theme parks for the family vacation set, to the diverse nightlife and queer Floridian culture of South Beach and Key West, to various meteorological phenomena and dangerous wetlands creatures to satisfy storm chasers and thrill seekers.