Highway A1a: Florida at the Edge

By Herbert L. Hiller

Book Overview

The story of Highway A1A--running north to south along 500 miles of famous Florida coastline--and its crucial role in the historic settlement and the future of a state adapting to 21st century demands. Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge is more than an insightful guide to the cities and towns along Florida's Atlantic coast. It is also the dramatic story of how tourism begat development, how development begat sprawl, and how this coastal corridor, almost out of the blue, created Florida's original year-round residential downtowns with the power to transform how Floridians live and how the world vacations in the Sunshine State. Highway A1A is anecdotal, authoritative, humorous, and wide-ranging. Passionately Floridian travel writer and tourism analyst Herbert Hiller offers a fuller and more balanced story about Florida's Atlantic coast than any other guidebook. Exploring towns from Callahan to Key West, Hiller covers Florida's 13 Atlantic counties, providing maps, historical and present-day photographs, and recommendations for places to visit, lodge, eat, and shop that are truly local in character. Whether you're a tourist or a roving Floridian looking for some diversion not far from home, Highway A1A will put you in touch with what makes the Atlantic coast special--its dynamic sites and sights.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813028337
• ISBN13: 9780813028330
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Development of Florida's east coast, for better & worse

Hiller goes county-by-county, describing the development of Florida's east coast from the days of Henry Flagler to the present. Politicians, business people, developers, conservationists, and community activists have had varying effects on each community. Although I wouldn't call it an easy read, those with a real interest in the future of Florida would do well to read this title. I'm lopping off a star because of the addition of hotel and restaurant listings in the back of the book, which doesn't seem to really go along with the intent of the main body of text. It's as if the publisher wants tourists to think this is a tour guide and this is an attempt to make one book serve two very different purposes.