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 enlarge | Author: Les Standiford
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy Used: $1.70
You Save: $22.30 (93%)
New (4) Used (22) Collectible (5) from $1.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 541743
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0609607480
Dewey Decimal Number: 385.0975941
EAN: 9780609607480
ASIN: 0609607480
Publication Date: September 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: sticker tear on front cover slight edge wear otherwise in very good condition
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| Customer Reviews:
 A good book to read while in the Keys. January 21, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought a copy of this book while camping in Big Pine Key and read it over the course of a day or two. The book made me look at the Keys in a different way and really added to my trip by giving me a sense of some of the history surrounding the region. No complaints here.
Fantastic read !!! August 19, 2004
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have to admit that I did not expect this book to be as good as it is. Being a "Keys" freak, I purchased this book to learn more about that old bridge I see when I drive down to Key West. WOW, I got a lot more from this book.
Well Done !!!!
Truly Awesome - Could not put it down May 24, 2004
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book shows how fiction can never compare to real life. I only wish there were other non-fiction books by this author.
The man who "invented" modern Florida October 3, 2003
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Ten years ago, when I visited Palm Beach, Florida, I noticed a lot of places named after someone called Flagler. At the time I had no idea who this person was, or why everything in the area seemed focused upon him, but after reading this book, I understand. It's pretty clear that, without Henry Flagler's vision, and money, Florida today might be an entirely different place. This man, almost singlehandedly, changed Florida from a hot, sleepy area into a mecca for tourists. His building of luxury hotels, the Florida East Coast Railway, and later the Key West Expansion, gave us our modern state. This story is extremely interesting, and I found it well-written. It tells something I did not know before, and that's always important to me when I read any non-fiction work. It's a tale of insight, struggle, ultimate success, and subsequent destruction by the forces of an all-powerful natural storm. Men such as Henry Flagler do not walk among us any longer, and perhaps we are all the poorer for that.
Go To Key West! July 28, 2003
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
Les Standiford has put together a spell-binding tale of the last of the privately financed infrastructure projects undertaken by the larger than life 19th century businessmen. Here Henry Flagler races against his own mortality to complete a railroad from Jacksonville to Key West, with the final run south from Miami requiring herculean engineering, management, and financial resources. Flager was a partner of John D. Rockefeller in an earlier venture known as Standard Oil who decided in his 70's to pursue a second career in railroading, land development, and luxury hotels in the then desolate country of South Florida and the Keys. Standiford weaves together Flagler, Rockefeller, their arch-rival trust-busting Teddy Roosevelt, WWI bonus armies, and big-game hunting author Ernest Hemingway. While Rockefeller also owned vacation homes in Florida, he and Flagler ultimately had a parting of the ways, with Rockefeller pointedly not attending Flagler's funeral. Flagler had been an early supporter of Roosevelt in his successful bid for the New York governorship after Roosevelt's success in the brief Spanish American war. Later Roosevelt brought antitrust action against Standard Oil and at least in Flagler's mind was behind government resistance to his plan to build a deep water harbor in Miami. Ironically, the US victory in the Spanish American War, together with confirmed plans to build the Panama Canal, were the motiviation for Flagler's railroad adventures, as Flagler projected, incorrectly as it turned out, that Miami and Key West would grow in stature as ports. The final thread introduces Hemingway into the mix. The author was already a well-known Key Wester when the hurricane of Labor Day 1935 ravaged the Keys. Although Hemingway's home and his beloved boat Pilar were not seriously damaged, Flagler's railroad was destroyed. A group of WWI bonus army veterans were working on road construction. Many were killed, despite a daring railroad rescue attempt. By 1935, Flager was long dead and the railroad was in bankruptcy. It was never rebuilt, although some bridges are still standing, for the exclusive use of fishermen and birds.
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