Book Description Review “The story of the 1920s real estate bubble in Florida has been told before, but Knowlton brings to it a vivid, spirited style and a colorful cast of characters who made quick fortunes and lost them just as quickly.” – New York Times “A lucid account of the human and economic factors that drove a notorious land rush.” – Kirkus Review “Knowlton delivers a vibrant, eminently readable cautionary tale about business and cultural history.” – Booklist “Knowlton successfully captures the vibrancy and mixed legacy of Florida’s boom years and makes a convincing…case for the state as an economic bellwether.” – Publishers Weekly “Knowlton delivers a captivating story, bubbling with colorful anecdotes and surprising research. As the triumphs and follies unfold, the narrative takes on a Canterbury Tales quality, drawing us into the turbulent lives of the real estate kings, crime bosses, cynical hucksters, and romantic visionaries who laid the foundation of modern Florida….[Knowlton] does vividly remind us that the metabolism of regional real-estate markets can affect the health of the overall economy. That timely lesson, one we forget at our peril, has rarely been taught with such panache.” – Diana B. Henriques, AIR MAIL “It is difficult to go wrong when writing of questionable behavior and wretched excess in Florida, a fact that is borne out yet again in Christopher Knowlton’s colorful Bubble in the Sun, a wide-ranging treatment of the ill-fated South Florida land boom of the 1920s.” – Les Standiford, The Wall Street Journal. “Knowlton…has produced a lively and entertaining chronicle of the visionaries, rascals and hucksters who transformed Florida.” – Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post Read more About the Author Christopher Knowlton is the author of Bubble in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression. He is a former staff writer and London bureau chief for Fortune magazine. He also spent fifteen years in the investment business. His previous book was Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West. Read more Customers Review: Mr. Knowlton has provided a terrifically entertaining and thought provoking read in this well-researched book. You know what’s coming, but the description of the players and places are most interesting and, at times, almost comical. Having spent time in my youth growing up on the east coast of Florida (and visiting often since), I found this a fast-paced and fun read. And the ending…a very nice bow was tied around how indeed it was the precursor to the larger stock market crash. For anyone who has been to Florida often, has ever dabbled in real estate and/or is a student of the markets, I highly recommend this book.
This book fills in a major gap in my previous understanding of business, economic and social history in the United States. The lessons of those days are vital to understanding our current status and our future. Refreshingly, it is a very enjoyable read: The dynamics discussed are important and vividly researched. Although business/economic matters are the primary object, relevant societal issues are carefully described. The colorful players in this wild time are brought to life. Knowlton’s writing is enjoyable in its own right.This is the kind of book my Dad would have passed to me as a young man to enlighten me; I plan to give copies to my daughters!
An extraordinary trip back to the 20’s .A tremendous read so insightful as to the flavor and excitement of the frenzy that enveloped the FLORIDA boom .I could not put it downBravo!
Great characters . Well written. A fine depiction of a mad epoch. Probably excessive claims for the historical significance of the Florida boom ; but who cares ? It’s a lot of fun to read.
Loved this historical fiction book about Florida
Bubble In The Sun is a thoroughly researched and engagingly written history of the Florida land boom in the 1920s. The book focuses mainly on four real estate speculators: Carl Fisher in Miami Beach, Addison Mizner in Palm Beach and Boca Raton, George Merrick in Coral Gables, and David Paul D. P. Davis in Tampa and St. Augstine. But other important individuals such as Henry Flagler (investor) and Marjory Stoneman Douglas (writer and preservationist) receive attention in this account of how Florida went from swampland to exotic hotel escape and then to exotic and alluringly-named subdivisions in the span of a few short decades.The history is chronological, starting with Henry Flagler arriving in Florida at the turn of the century and seeing opportunities in the seaside East Coast with its soft sand beaches and excellent weather. He built an initial infrastructure (railroads) to bring the people to Florida and then he built huge and exotic hotels that would cater to the wealthy New Englanders looking for an place for Summer Homes or upscale hotels. From there, the opportunists came and took huge risks and chances in buying and selling Florida land for subdivisions.Author Knowlton provides a lot of background information on each individual profiled as well as the environment in the country at the time. That big picture was useful to put everything into perspective but as a small nitpick was also bordering on overly tangential filler. But this is definitely not a book where you will be left with questions. If anything, I found myself next to the computer several times to look at old post cards and photographs of the original architecture (I wish there could have been images but understand the costs associated with printing images). The information is nicely presented in a conversational way, as if told by a great storytelling recalling his old days in roaring 20s Florida.The writing is extremely engaging and we definitely get a feel for each of the individuals – their personality, drives, foibles, weaknesses, and exceptional strengths – along with the wives, friends, servants, etc. that enabled their successes or contributed to their downfalls. As well, other important aspects of the time such as racism and the fate of the black workers who toiled there are also given full treatment. It’s a very well rounded approach that really gives a complete picture: the infrastructure, the money, the goals, the pitfalls, the crazy speculation, and finally the factors/events that contributed to the beginning of the Great Depression.The subtitle gives the best indication of the focus of the book: it about defining how the Florida land speculation and development craze greatly contributed to the Great Depression. Knowlton is careful to separate the stock market crash as NOT being the beginning of the Depression and instead discusses all the signs that were foreshadowing 1929 (especially the sudden reticence/cessation of investments and speculation around 1926 in Florida). So although this may seem like a historical, in reality I would consider the history as fact building in order to support Knowlton’s later assertion that Florida was a major cause of the Depression. Unlike many history books, Knowlton’s writing isn’t dry but it isn’t meant to be a simple factual. He freely gives his thoughts and opinions throughout, most of which feel very rooted in facts and not hyperbole.In all, I greatly enjoyed this book. It gave great perspective on Florida in the 1920s but also on the reasons why the Great Depression was inevitable. It was a period of wild speculation throughout the US but no where more concentrated than in land investment on both coasts of the State of Florida. All perpetrated by, to quote the book, “a handful of daring men who, eager for fame and wealth, took enormous risks to open up Florida for real estate development and then chased the boom to its ruinous conclusion.” Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
This is a fascinating story of the real estate bubble that took place in Florida in the 1920s, focused on the men and woman (that’s not a typo) who made Florida what it was then and largely remains today.. Flagler, Collier, Fisher, Davis and, most interesting to me, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas and Addison Mizner. The book is full of fascinating characters, lush surroundings, great gossip, and a great yarns.However, it’s not at the five-star level for a few reasons. First, the thesis of the book is that the bursting of the Florida real estate bubble brought on, or helped to bring on, the Great Depression, and/or made it worse. I’m not sure I buy that and, in fact, I read an article In which the author said that wasn’t his thesis but rather a marketing pitch superimposed by his publisher. That last comment is disingenuous (and I’m being kind); the author pushes this theory throughout the book and spends much of its last chapters defending it. The book would have been better if he let the reader draw his/her own conclusions instead of beating us over the head with it.Another flaw is that the author’s style involves a few too many repetitions of the character flaws of the rich and swinish people he portrays. Less might have been more.Finally, there were quite a few typos in the book — where was the editor when, for example, “Walter” became “Water?”Still, it is a good and fun read and sheds quite a bit of light on why Florida today is what it is.
Bubble in the Sun by Christopher Knowlton is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in late November.Chapters on the huge amount of housing and resort construction in Florida during the 1920s & 1930s, sprawling exploits and naughtiness, crime, racist violence, stormy weather, collapse of the stock market, and gambling amid quantitative (versus biographically qualitative) introductions to Floridian barons, mostly having to do with who can do what for how much and how fast; some dainty and prim, others more gaudy and ostentatious. |
16 reviews