Florida's Frontiers

by Paul E. Hoffman

Book Overview

Florida has had many frontiers. Imagination, greed, missionary zeal, disease, war, and diplomacy have created its historical boundaries. Bodies of water, soil, flora and fauna, the patterns of Native American occupation, and ways of colonizing have defined Florida's frontiers. Paul E. Hoffman tells the story of those frontiers and how the land and the people shaped them during the three centuries from 1565 to 1860.

For settlers to La Florida,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253340195
• ISBN13: 9780253340191
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Fine overview

I have read a couple different books from this series on the Appalachian frontier; the work on Florida was probably the best so far. Hoffman's book covers the longest time period of any of the series, starting in 1513 with Ponce De Leon and ending on the eve of the Civil War. The work is a fine overview, especially on the evolving Florida native community. I learned much about Spanish Florida that was unfamiliar to me. While the coverage on the American period was disappointingly brief (two pages on the Seminole War), this allowed for equal coverage for a period of over three hundred years. One of the strongest features of the book was the detailed footnotes and bibliography. Recommended to anyone interested in Florida or the Spanish Frontier. To be supplemented by other works for the latter period.

Heavy on facts, light on story

This book is for the reader who enjoys a detailed and factual account of history. I enjoyed it, but found it tough reading. I came away with a much better understanding of the relationship between the European settlers and the natives. If you want to know about the first major and sustained contact between Europeans and native Northamericans, long before Plymoth Rock and Jamestown, then this is the book for you.