Description:
Inside the reinvention of Florida politics
Reubin Askew was swept into the governor's office in 1970 as part of a remarkable wave of progressive politics and legislative reform in Florida. A man of uncompromising principle and independence, he was elected primarily on a platform of tax reform.
In the years that followed, Askew led a group of politicians from both parties who sought--and achieved--judicial reform, redistricting, busing and desegregation, the end of the Cross Florida Barge Canal, the Sunshine Amendment, and much more.
This period was truly a golden age of Florida politics, and Martin Dyckman's narrative is well written, fast paced, and reads like a novel. Dyckman also reveals how the return of special interests, the rise of partisan politics, unlimited campaign spending, term limits, gerrymandering, and more have eroded the achievements of the Golden Age in subsequent decades.Review Quotes: "[A]
must-read biography."--Tampa Bay Times
uses his understanding of the inner workings of Florida government, combined
with a journalist's eye for fascinating detail, to create a full portrait of
Askew and those who played significant roles in leading Florida in the 1970s."--Tampa
Bay History "An
interesting, well-written window into a time that Florida's leaders were racing
to transform it into the modern state that its mushrooming population required."--Florida
Bar Journal "One
will not find a more vivid or more compelling portrayal of Florida politics and
government in the last third of the twentieth century."--Journal of Southern History "Dyckman does a masterful job. . . . Only someone
who was there, as Dyckman was, tracking events on a daily basis, could provide
such a nuanced account."--Florida Historical Quarterly