I found A Florida State of Mind quite entertaining. For someone who actually lives in Florida, it is very well written and has some great historical facts included in the book.

Highly recommend.

Much of this reads like a trvel brochure rather than a history—particularly tge beaches chapter. If you want a good book about Florida and its weirdness, try Craig Pittman’s book.

A great resource in an entertaining and lyrical form. It is highly recommended.

I loved this book! It is an easy to read, entertaining look at the State of Florida. It begins with how Florida began a community founded by Ponce De Leon. It included the fights with the Native Americans and all that was taken from them. They were continually pushed into the swampy, uninhabitable portions of the state. It continues with sections that include Theme parks, Weather, Native species and, even, The Hanging Chad. There are too many to list and all are interesting. Even if the reader has no interest in say, NASCAR, there are a lot of other things to learn and enjoy.

I think James Wright did a fine job of capturing all of Florida in an interesting way. It is never dry and read like a fiction novel. It contains a vast amount of historical knowledge with fascinating tidbits thrown in. This book should be in all schools, especially those in Florida!


I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book.

This was a fun and interesting book. Probably everyone could learn a little something from it. I really liked the way it was organized and it was easy to skim through the chapters I was less interested in. Certainly provided some fun facts to through out to our friends from Florida. Overall it was a fun read and good reference book.

What an entertaining and informative read! I've never visited Florida and probably never will - I hate heat and humidity. What can I say, I need four seasons and the chance of a foot of snow to make things exciting. But I do like reading about the state, fiction, non-fiction.....sometimes it's hard to tell them apart. Seems like all of the nuts rolled downhill and landed there. From it's discovery by Ponce de Leon to the invasion of Disney, all of the history in between is more than can be contained in one volume. James D. Wright makes a winning effort in stuffing a lot of information into this entertaining read.
I read it cover to cover in a weekend - sleeping wasn't an issue. There were some parts in the chapter on road kill that were more than a bit off putting but hey, it's a book about Florida, after all. The crazy is strong down there in the Sunshine State - which the author reminds us isn't really their's to claim. Other states have more sunshine. Sort of like Washington State being the rainiest, it's a PR thing.
When I was finished reading I added it to my list of future gifts to friends and family and I wanted to learn more about this larger than life state. I'm making my reading list right now. If you are a native of Florida, a tourist in the making or you visit every year, a new transplant or may never set foot there, I recommend this book to all of you.

A Florida State of Mind was a very interesting book if you are looking to find out more about Florida and the history of this state, I did skim through most of this book, but felt it’s a great book to have if you just want to pick it up now and then. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I’ve been a Floridian for 6 years now so I was looking forward to reading this. There were some really entertaining and interesting parts, but I felt that it did go on a little too long for my taste. Overall it did give me some great facts to share with out of state friends! Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

This author needs to find another new state to reside in!
The book has a serious Liberal bent which is truly out of place here. I read this book to enjoy the crazy and silly and oddness of my beloved Florida. I was not looking for political commentary, lampooning or plain slanted remarks. The author has succumbed to revisionist history in his description of the Native Resistance to European colonization. He also takes a strong stand in his belief that the wealth of the developers has built on the backs of the struggling poor, intentionally. He also shows a serious lack of respect for the native Floridians that he calls 'Crackers', has serious issues with the slave-owning history of Florida and lets it carry over to the residents of today's Florida. I wish that this book had been written differently so that I could have enjoyed it. Instead, it is all political and not factual. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

I enjoyed the history at the beginning immensely, but by midway through, the book became very put-downable. I didn't expect, nor really care for the recipes section, either.

"A Florida State of Mind" is one of those books that you can pick up and put down again while you're reading other things. Chapters about the history of the state, how it evolved into a tourist destination, and the Disney invasion mingle with information about alligators and everyone's favorite anti-hero, "Florida Man." Fun for people who enjoy trivia and facts, or for people who live in or love the Sunshine State.

This book was so much fun to read. As someone who has lived in the "Sunshine State" at several points in her life, this book had me laughing along and nodding my head to the shenanigans that have taken place over the course of the state's history. I loved all the random facts and tidbits throughout the book.

P.S. I really could have done without the "Roadkill" chapter. Anyone with a queasy stomach should definitely skip that one.

I am a native Floridian and I know Florida has a lot of weird stories out of it,but so does every state. There is a lot of wonderful things about Florida or people would not visit or move here. I think there is a lot of weird and wonderful stories the author could have included in this book that were not just the more well known stories.

As a native Floridian, there's nothing I enjoy reading more about than my home state. Whether it is fiction or not, Florida seems to provide such a great background for some amazing stories. I also acknowledge that my home state has some weirdos. Sometimes these weirdos can be nice little quirks to our culture and past while other times they can be embarrassing.

Wright takes on a task that collects various essays and discussions about different aspects of Florida life ranging from these weirdos to the citrus industry, from space to Disney, and talks about what makes Florida the way it is. The text is easy to read and it rather interesting. My main complaint with this book, and it is a big one, I don't necessarily believe everything he wrote. While he complains about Florida multiple times, he lives here. I couldn't help but wonder, "If this place is so bad, why are you here?". I also could have done with a lot less personal political jabs thrown in. A more unbiased view would have been appreciated. Wright is a sociologist so I guess he views things differently than me even though I believe we both belong to the same political party.

My end result after reading this book was an overwhelming 'meh'. Nothing great but I enjoyed reading it.

I did not care for this book at all. It has a lot of information about Florida in it, but much of the author's research seems gleamed from Trip Advisor and google searches. He tries to cover a plethora of topics, and the discussion of each of these topics is superficial, at best.

The negative, dismissive tone of the writing was off-putting. The author is critical of conservatives and a whole group of people he unapologetically calls "crackers." In fact, he often uses negative and dismissive language for the subject of his book, the entire state of Florida.

I've vacationed in many parts of Florida for many years and have always enjoyed my time there. I gleaned a bit of information and history about this beautiful part of the country from this book, but it was just too negative. People read travel books to find reasons to embrace a culture, not ridicule it.

Ah, Florida, the state we all love to hate and hate to love. We are envious of its balmy breezes and endless beaches, but contemptuous of its crime, overcrowding and frighteningly right-wing government.. Wright, a transplant to the state (as the overwhelming majority of residents are) provides a thoughtful, well researched and at times just down right funny look at our Southern neighbor. From its first real residents, the native Americans who called it home, to the Spanish and English who won and lost control of the territory over and over again, to the robber barons of the 19th and twentieth century to the craziness of the Mouse, Wright displays it all in its bright and glaring bizarreness. Don’t get me wrong, there is much to love about Florida (my parents retired there), but readers will have to venture far from the theme parks of Orlando and the noise and glitter of South Beach to find it. There are still glorious and natural tracts of land (try the state park system) that highlight what a beautiful place this place was before humans arrived to muck things up