Pineapple Anthology of Florida Writers

This is the third, and final, volume in the Pineapple Anthology of Florida Writers. The selections are based on a number of factors, including the period in which they wrote, the genre, and their contribution to literature and history. This volume contains 30 writers who wrote from the 1500s to today’s best-seller list. Florida literature begins in the early 1500s and the early writings include works by Spanish, French, and British settlers. Every effort has been made to include the entire poem, short story, or chapter in order to give the full impact of the writing. This volume includes Samuel Coleridge and Oliver Goldsmith who never saw Florida, but used it in their poems. Several writers, such as Henry James and William Dean Howells, helped expose Florida to the nation. H. L. Mencken reported on the aftermath of the Jacksonville fire, John Rothchild wrote of the state’s past, and Jack Kerouac wrote of his dislike of the state. There are works by two best-selling mystery writers, William Connelly and Randy Wayne White. Backroads Florida is captured by Harry Crews and Totch Brown. And there is an essay by a man known primarily for his music, Jimmy Buffett.

James Clark was born in Washington, D.C. He began his journalism career with ABC News in Washington as a copyboy before joining United Press International as a reporter. He worked for the Columbia (S.C.) Record, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Raleigh News & Observer and for the Associated Press in Charlotte and Philadelphia. He has been honored with the George Polk Award, Numerous awards from the Florida Society of Newspaper Editor, The Gerald Loeb Award and the Sigma Delta Chi Award. He is the author of six books, including the three volumes of the Pineapple Anthology of Florida Writers. He is a history lecturer at the University of Central Florida.